Question

A baker is building a rectangular solid box from cardboard to be able to safely deliver a birthday cake. The baker wants the volume of the delivery box to be 224 cubic inches. If the width of the delivery box is 3 inches longer than the length and the height is 4 inches longer than the length, what must the length of the delivery box be?
3 inches
7 inches
8 inches
4 inches

Answer 1

The length of the rectangular delivery box must be equal to 4 inches.

Let the length of the box be L.

Let the width of the box be W.

Let the height of the box be H.

Given the following data:

• Volume of box = 224 cubic inches.

Translating the word problem into an algebraic expression;

$W = 3 + L$  ......equation 1

$H = 4 + L$  ......equation 2.

Mathematically, the volume of a rectangular solid is given by the formula;

$Volume = length * width * height$  .....equation 3.

Substituting the values into equation, we have;

$224 = L * (3 + L) * (4 + L)\\\\224 = (3L + L^{2})* (4 + L)\\\\224 = 12L + 3L^{2} + 4L^{2} + L^{3} \\\\224 = 12L + 7L^{2} + L^{3}$

Rearranging the polynomial, we have;

$L^{3} + 7L^{2} + 12L - 224 = 0$

We would apply the remainder theorem to solve the polynomial.

According to the remainder theorem, if a polynomial P(x) is divided by (x - r) and there is a remainder R; then P(r) = R.

When x = 3

$(x - 3) = 0\\x = 3$

$P(3) = 3^{3} + 7(3^{2}) + 12(3) - 224\\\\P(3) = 27 + 7(9) + 36 - 224\\\\P(3) = 27 + 63 + 36 - 224 = -98 \neq 0$

We would try with 4;

$P(4) = 4^{3} + 7(4^{2}) + 12(4) - 224\\\\P(4) = 64 + 7(16) + 48 - 224\\\\P(4) = 64 + 112 + 48 - 224\\\\P(4) = 224 - 224 = 0$

Therefore, 4 is one of its roots.

Hence, the length of the rectangular delivery box must be equal to 4 inches.

Find more information on polynomial here: brainly.com/question/10689855