The area of a rectangular painting is given by the trinomial x2+4x−21

. What are the possible dimensions of the painting? Use factoring to solve.

1 answer

To find the possible dimensions of the painting, we need to factor the given trinomial x^2 + 4x - 21.

x^2 + 4x - 21 can be factored as (x + 7)(x - 3).

Now, we need to set each factor to 0 and solve for x:

x + 7 = 0
x = -7

x - 3 = 0
x = 3

Therefore, the possible dimensions of the painting are -7 and 3. However, since dimensions cannot be negative, the actual dimensions of the painting are 3 units by 7 units.