Question

Priya has to buy fertilizer for her family’s vegetable garden, shown in the diagram. In order to buy the correct amount, she has to find the total area of the garden. She has measured the dimensions of the garden. What is the garden’s area in square feet?

A
96 sq ft

B
144 sq ft

C
168 sq ft

D
240 sq ft

Answer 1

,,follows:

(w + 9)(w - 2) = 0.

That is:

(w + 9) = 0, or (w - 2) = 0.

Now (w + 9) = 0 would mean w = -9 feet. But that's impossible because dimensions are always positive numbers. So discard that “extraneous” solution,

The other solution is (w - 2) = 0, so w, the width is 2 feet, and since the length is 7 feet longer than the width, the length is 9 feet, and the area is (2 feet) x (9 feet), which is 18 square feet, as stated in the problem.