Question

I am the middle of 3 numbers whose total is 31. The largest is 3 more than 5 times the smallest. What # am I?

1st number I put as x
2nd number I put as y as long as y> x
3rd number is 3+5x=z
X+y+z=31
so when I plug it in I get
X+y+3+5x=31. Y=28-6x
Now is where I get lost. Because I have Y & Z but when I plug it all in I get 0 for X which doesn't come out correctly.?????

Answer 1

OK. Y=28-6x.
But, y>x, since it is the middle
So, we have
28-6x > x
28 > 7x
x < 4

So, we have several choices
3,10,18
2,16,13
1,22,8
...

But y is the middle, so only 3,10,18 works.