SOLUTION: In question #8318 can you help me understand where 40 came from in the equation. Is there a way to simplify or shorten? Thanks & sorry I don't understand.
Question 8324: In question #8318 can you help me understand where 40 came from in the equation. Is there a way to simplify or shorten? Thanks & sorry I don't understand. Answer by bonster(299) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! when you multiply (x)(26+x) and equal that to 560 it becomes:
26(x)+(x)(x)=560 which equals 26x+=560
=0
(x+40) and (x-14) comes from factoring =0
In order to factorize this, you must ask yourself...
what two numbers must I multiply to get 560 AND who's difference=26
If you multiply 40 and 14, you'll get 560 AND the difference of 40-14 is 26.
BUT, we can safely conclude that we will not use (x+40)=0 because then, we would be saying that someone would be a negative age.
In this case, it would only be x-14=0 which would be used because the value of "x" would be a positive number.
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