problem: The sum of seven consecutive integers is 49. What is the smallest of the seven integers?
solution: Let the smallest of these consecutive integers be $a-3$, and thus the largest will be $a+3$. The sum of all seven  integers is equal to the average of the first and last term, multiplied by the number of terms, which is $7a = 49$. Thus, $a=7$. The smallest of the seven integers is $a-3=7-3=\boxed{4}$.