Answer:
The flower garden width would be 6 ft
Step-by-step explanation:
A = 12 ft^2 = x(x + 4) becomes:
x^2 + 4x - 12 = 0, or (by completing the square) x^2 + 4x + 4 - 4 - 12 = 0
Thus, we have (x + 2)^2 - 16 = 0, or (x + 2)^2 = 16
Taking the square root of both sides yields x + 2 = ±4.
In this context only a positive x value makes sense: x = 2 + 4 => x = 6.
The flower garden width would be 6 ft. The other dimension would be 6 - 4, or 2, ft.
