Another way of stating this is: n + (n+1) + (n+2) = 72; find n. Doing the math that works out to 3n + 3 = 72 or 3n = 69 at which point it should be obvious that n is 23 and the three integers are 23, 24, and 25.
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The sum of three consecutive integers is -72
The even integers are 22, 24 and 26.
Presumably the sum is -222, as defined by the question!
Since the three integers are consecutive, let them be: m, m+1, and m+2.Then:m + (m+1) + (m+2) = 72m + m + 1 + m + 2 = 3m + 3 = 723(m+1) = 72m+1 = 24m = 23So the three integers are: {23, 24, 25}. Check and they do in fact sum to 72.
If sum were 75 the integers would be 24, 25 and 26, so the next lowest sum would be 23 + 24 + 25 ie 72. The answer is thus 23.