let the negative number be x, 3 less than twice that negative number would be (2x-3) hence, equation form x multiply by (2x-3) equals to 209 it would result in equation 2x^2-3x=209 2x^2-3x-209=0
hence using quadratic eqn x=11 ( rej since qn stated x is a negative number) x=-19/2
