Final answer:
The equation that could be solved to find the value of the smaller number x is x(x+3) = 550. To solve this equation, use the distributive property and either factor the quadratic or use the quadratic formula.
Step-by-step explanation:
The equation that could be solved to find the value of the smaller number x is:
x(x+3) = 550
To solve this equation, we can use the distributive property to expand the expression:
x^2 + 3x = 550
Next, we rearrange the equation to isolate the variable x:
x^2 + 3x - 550 = 0
Finally, we can either factor the quadratic or use the quadratic formula to solve for x.