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Algebra Difficulty 2.4 Junior Find the answer

What is the greatest possible value of nn if Juliana chooses three different numbers from the set {6,4,2,0,1,3,5,7}\{-6,-4,-2,0,1,3,5,7\} and multiplies them together to obtain the integer nn?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Since 3×5×7=1053 \times 5 \times 7=105, then the greatest possible value of nn is at least 105. For the product of three numbers to be positive, either all three numbers are positive or one number is positive and two numbers are negative. If all three numbers are positive, the greatest possible value of nn is 3×5×7=1053 \times 5 \times 7=105. If one number is positive and two numbers are negative, the greatest possible value of nn is 7×(4)×(6)=7×24=1687 \times(-4) \times(-6)=7 \times 24=168. Combining the two cases, we see that the greatest possible value of nn is 168.

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