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Not every number can be written as a sum of consecutive numbers. For example, 2 cannot be written out as a sum as the only two sums that make it are 1 and 1,2 and 0 which are both not consecutive. Numbers that are higher than 5 and a multiple of 3,6 or 9 can be written in more than one method. All multiples of three can be written in 3 consecutive numbers. The pattern in this is that the median of the consecutive numbers or the middle number is a third of the total of the sum. For example 3, 4 and 5 add up to 12 and a third of twelve is 4 which is the middle number. However multiples of 4 cannot be written in four numbers. An example to prove this is that the first possible sum of four numbers is 1,2,3 and 4 which add up to 10. Then the next four consecutive numbers add up to 14 which are both not multiples of 4 and go up by 4. It is only multiples of odd numbers that can be written in the same number of consecutive numbers as the odd number.