Question

the area of a parallelogram is 32 sq miles. Find its base and height

Answer 1

the base is set at x+7 and the height is set at x-7

Answer 2

A=b x h
32=(x+7) (x-7)
32=x^2-7x+7x-49
32=x^2-49 (the 7'scancelled each other out)
+49 +49
81=x^2 (sqaure root it)
9=x

Answer 3

be careful, if you had x^2 = 81, then x = 9 or x = -9

Answer 4

so then you just plug x into the original equations

Answer 5

however, in this case, it doesn't make sense to have x = -9 since this leads to a side length of x+7 = -9+7 = -2

so you can get away with ignoring x = -9