9) The sum of three consecutive numbers is 39. What is the smallest of these numbers?

## Step 1<br />Let's denote the three consecutive numbers as \(x\), \(x+1\), and \(x+2\). The sum of these three numbers is given as 39. Therefore, we can write the equation as:<br />### \(x + (x+1) + (x+2) = 39\)<br />## Step 2<br />Next, we simplify the equation by combining like terms:<br />### \(3x + 3 = 39\)<br />## Step 3<br />To isolate the term with \(x\), we subtract 3 from both sides of the equation:<br />### \(3x = 36\)<br />## Step 4<br />Finally, we solve for \(x\) by dividing both sides of the equation by 3:<br />### \(x = 12\)