Question

Bob has a garden where the length is three more than the width, and the area is 40 square feet. This can be modeled by the equation (x-8)(x+5)=0. What is the width of the garden?

a) 3 feet

b) 8 feet

c) 5 feet

d) 13 feet

Answer 1

Since the width cannot be negative, we disregard the negative solution.To do this, we set each factor equal to zero and solve for x. The width of the garden is 8 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the width of the garden, we need to solve the equation (x-8)(x+5)=0, where x represents the width.

To do this, we set each factor equal to zero and solve for x.

(x-8)(x+5)=0

x-8=0 or x+5=0

x=8 or x=-5

Since the width cannot be negative, we disregard the negative solution.

Therefore, the width of the garden is 8 feet.