To solve the equation \((x + 16)^2 / 9 = 7\), we first want to eliminate the fraction by multiplying both sides by 9:
\[ (x + 16)^2 = 7 \times 9 \]
Calculating the right side:
\[ (x + 16)^2 = 63 \]
Next, we take the square root of both sides:
\[ x + 16 = \pm \sqrt{63} \]
Now we simplify \(\sqrt{63}\):
\[ \sqrt{63} = \sqrt{9 \times 7} = 3\sqrt{7} \]
So we have:
\[ x + 16 = \pm 3\sqrt{7} \]
Now we can solve for \(x\) by isolating it:
\[ x = -16 \pm 3\sqrt{7} \]
Now we'll compute the two possible solutions:
- For \(x = -16 + 3\sqrt{7}\)
- For \(x = -16 - 3\sqrt{7}\)
First, we need to calculate \(3\sqrt{7}\):
\(\sqrt{7} \approx 2.64575\)
Thus:
\[ 3\sqrt{7} \approx 3 \times 2.64575 \approx 7.93725 \]
Now subtract and add this value to \(-16\):
- \(x_1 = -16 + 7.93725 \approx -8.06275\)
- \(x_2 = -16 - 7.93725 \approx -23.93725\)
We will round the results to the nearest hundredth:
- \(x_1 \approx -8.06\)
- \(x_2 \approx -23.94\)
Thus, the solutions to the quadratic equation are:
\[ x \approx -8.06 \quad \text{and} \quad x \approx -23.94 \]