What are the common factors in the product of the three even integers?
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Practice makes perfect
An inductive reasoning uses specific examples to find patterns in order to form a conjecture. Let's calculate the product of three even numbers and see what happens:
First trial:& 2*4*6 =48
Second trial:& 4* 6* 8 =192
Third trial:& 6* 8* 10 =480
It's not very easy to discern a pattern, but each of these products is even. Now let's use deductive reasoning to prove the conjecture: the product of three even integers is even. Let 2x, 2y, and 2z represent any three even integers.
