1. **Stating the problem:** We want to find a formula or method to get the numbers 17, 32, 48, 60, and 64 such that their sum is 141. 2. **Understanding the problem:** The sum of these numbers is given as 141. Let's verify this first: $$17 + 32 + 48 + 60 + 64 = 221$$ This sum is actually 221, not 141, so there might be a misunderstanding or typo in the problem statement. 3. **If the sum is 141, and we want to find numbers similar to these, one approach is to find a scaling factor:** Let the original sum be $$S = 221$$ and the desired sum be $$T = 141$$. The scaling factor $$k$$ is: $$k = \frac{T}{S} = \frac{141}{221}$$ 4. **Apply the scaling factor to each number:** $$17 \times k = 17 \times \frac{141}{221} = \frac{2397}{221} \approx 10.85$$ $$32 \times k = 32 \times \frac{141}{221} = \frac{4512}{221} \approx 20.41$$ $$48 \times k = 48 \times \frac{141}{221} = \frac{6768}{221} \approx 30.62$$ $$60 \times k = 60 \times \frac{141}{221} = \frac{8460}{221} \approx 38.28$$ $$64 \times k = 64 \times \frac{141}{221} = \frac{9024}{221} \approx 40.83$$ 5. **Check the sum of scaled numbers:** $$10.85 + 20.41 + 30.62 + 38.28 + 40.83 \approx 141$$ 6. **Conclusion:** The formula used here is to find a scaling factor $$k = \frac{\text{desired sum}}{\text{original sum}}$$ and multiply each original number by $$k$$ to get new numbers whose sum is the desired total. **Final answer:** $$\boxed{k = \frac{141}{221}}$$ and new numbers are approximately $$10.85, 20.41, 30.62, 38.28, 40.83$$.