Question

A rectangular flower bed is enlarged so that its area increases by 24 ft². The enlarged flower bed is a rectangle and its area is x2+11x+24 ft². What expressions represent the dimensions of the flower bed before the increase?

Answer 1

Let:

a = original area of the rectangular flower bed
y = enlarged area of the rectangular flower bed

The new area of the flower bed is:

y = x^2 + 11x +24 ft^2
y = (x+3) (x+8)

If the flower bed area is increased by 24 ft^2

y = a + 24 ft^2
y = x^2 +11x + 24

Therefore, the original area of the bed is x^2 +11.