Question

6 times a number is 16 less than the square of that number. Find the positive solution.

Answer 1

x=8

Explanation:

Let's say this mystery number is x.

6 times this x is 16 less than the square of x so we can write this as:

`6x = x^2 - 16`

We can then re-arrange this into a quadratic and simplify it so:

`x^2 -6x-16 =0`

`(x-8)(x+2)`

x=8, x=-2

And since the question is asking for the positive solution,
x=8