Help with a problem

EandH

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Jan 31, 2010
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HI,

I'm SO bad at math, The E and H in my user mean English and History. Could someone please help me with this...

If the area of a rectangle = X² + 7x + 10 what is the missing number?
 
Hi English and History:

I regret that I do not understand the question about the "missing number".

The value of x is currently unknown, so maybe that's the value they want. However, there is not enough information to solve for x.

Are you sure that you've provided us with ALL of the given information (instructions, diagram, other parts to this exercise, et cetera)?

Cheers ~ Mark
 
Hi, I've attached a picture of the square. Sorry about that. I hope this helps.
 

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Great! Now it makes sense, and this is easy.

Hopefully, you know that the area of a rectangle is Length times Width.

The names "Length" and "Width" are not carved in stone. We could just as well say that the area of a rectangle is Base times Height, and those are the names that I will use, in this exercise.

Look at the height of the rectangle.

The height is x + 2, right?

Look at the base.

The base is x + ? .

Therefore, the height times the base is expressed as follows.

(x + 2) * (x + ?)

We're told that this product (i.e., the area of the rectangle) equals x^2 + 7x + 10.

So, you simply need to find the correct number to replace the ? in the following equation.

(x + 2)*(x + ?) = x^2 + 7x + 10

Please show your work or explain your reasoning, if you want more help with this exercise.

If you're lost, try looking up FOIL in your textbook's index.

Cheers ~ Mark 8-)
 
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