The product of three integers is . What is the least possible positive sum of the three integers?
Pick one
Solution
Answer (B): Note that , and the sum of these factors is . It remains to show that no positive sum can be less than . Such a sum would have to consist of one positive integer and two negative integers with smaller absolute value. If the positive integer is greater than or equal to , then the sum is greater than or equal to . The possible sets of factors in this case are , , , , , , , and . None of these sets of factors has a sum less than .
The only other possible choices for the positive integer are and , and in neither case is a positive sum possible. Indeed, if the positive integer is , then the only possible set of factors is . If the positive integer is , then the only possible set of factors is . In both of these cases, the sum is not positive.