The product of two consecutive positive odd integers is (399). What is the smaller integer?

Correct answer: (19)

The direct answer is A, 19. Consecutive positive odd integers differ by 2, not by 1. Let the smaller integer be x; the next is x+2. Their product gives \\(x(x+2)=399\\), or \\(x^2+2x-399=0\\). We can check the factor pair \\(19\\times21=399\\), so x=19. Option A is correct. Option B, 21, is the larger integer, not the smaller one. Option C, 17, would be paired with 19 and gives 323, not 399. Option D, 23, would be paired with 25 and gives 575. The positivity condition also rules out any negative pair. Memory cue: consecutive odd numbers are written x and x+2.