Two consecutive whole numbers multiply together to give 552. What is the sum of those two numbers?

The two numbers sit either side of the square root of 552, and since $23\times 23=529$ and $24\times 24=576$, the pair to try is 23 and 24. Indeed $23\times 24=552$, so the sum is 23 + 24 = 47. Notice too that the sum of two consecutive whole numbers is always odd, which rules out two of the choices on sight. The traps: 46 is twice the smaller number and 48 is twice the larger, both from doubling one of the pair instead of adding the two; 24 is the larger number by itself, an answer to a question that was not asked.