The area of a rectangle is represented through the trinomial: x2 + x - 12. Which of the subsequent binomials could represent the length and width?
Because the formula for the area of a rectangle is length × width, ?nd out the factors of the trinomial to obtain the dimensions. First check to see if there is a general factor in each of the terms or if it is the difference among two perfect squares, and it is neither of these. The further step would be to factor the trinomial into two binomials. To do this, you will be doing techniques which resemble FOIL backwards (First terms of each binomial multiplied, Outer terms in each multiplied, inner terms of each multiplied, and Last term of each binomial multiplied.) First results in x2, so the ?rst terms must be (x )(x ); Outer added to the Inner combines to 1x, and the Last is -12, so you need to ?nd two numbers which add to +1 and multiply to -12. These two numbers are -3 and +4; (x - 3)(x + 4). Therefore, the dimensions are (x + 4) and (x - 3).