Question

Help!

A rectangular flower bed is enlarged so that its area increases by 24 ft^2. The enlarged flower bed is a rectangle and its area is x^2+11x+24 ft^2. What expressions represent the dimensions of the flower bed before the increase? Enter your answers in the boxes.

Answer 1

the expression before the flower bed was increased is the x. to solve how much it was increased, you must factor the given quadratic equation:

x^2 + 11x + 24 = 24
( x + 3 ) ( x + 8 ) = 24
( x + 3 ) ( x + 5 + 3) = 24
the sides of the rectangular flower bead was increase by 2 ft each