The area of a rectangular desk is given by trinomial d^2-7d-18. What are the possible dimensions of the desk? Use factoring :)

Question

austinl · Answer

When you factor it out, you will have 
$$(d \pm x)(d \pm y)$$
When you factor it out, you would then set the pair equal to 0. Which would then give you your values that you need for length and width.

austinl · Answer

You still need help?

anonymous · Answer

yesss, i am still a little confused, do you think you might be able to explain a little more into detail?

austinl · Answer

Sure, we have
$$d^2 -7d -18$$
We need to factor that into two parts
$$(d+x)(d-y)$$
For this problem, what when multiplied together gives -18, and when added gives -7?

austinl · Answer

Make any more sense?

anonymous · Answer

(d+2)(d-9) is that the correct answer?

austinl · Answer

I do believe so! So those would be the lengths of the sides.