The integers preceding a positive integer \( n \) can be represented by the expression \( n - 1 \).
If you want to refer to multiple preceding integers, you could express them as:
- The first integer preceding \( n \): \( n - 1 \)
- The second integer preceding \( n \): \( n - 2 \)
- The third integer preceding \( n \): \( n - 3 \)
And so forth. In general, the \( k \)-th integer preceding \( n \) can be represented as:
\[ n - k \]
where \( k \) is a positive integer (1 for the first preceding integer, 2 for the second, etc.).