A quadrilateral is a shape with 4 sides, regardless of their lengths, angles, or symmetry.
Therefore, a square is always a quadrilateral.
If you expand the square, you have

Simplify the right hand side:

Cancel the -3x appearing on both sides:

Multiply both sides by 4:

Consider the square root of both terms (using the doubles sign):

Step-by-step explanation:
there are 2 similar triangles : ABE and DCE
that means they have the same angles, and the scaling factor from one triangle to the other is the same for every side.
and that means that
DE/AE = EC/BE (= DC/AB)
we know that
AE = AD + DE
BE = BC + EC
a.
so, we have actually
DE/(AD+DE) = EC/(BC+EC)
DE/(10+DE) = 8/(2+8) = 8/10 = 4/5
DE = 4(10+DE)/5
5DE = 4(10+DE) = 40 + 4DE
DE = 40 cm
b.
AD/DE = 3/5
BC/EC must be 3/5 too.
15/EC = 3/5
15 = 3EC/5
75 = 3EC
EC = 25 cm