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Use the Quadratic Formula to find the height that will give the desired area.?

A landscaper is designing a flower garden in shape of a trapezoid. She wants the shorter base to be 3 yards greater than the height and the longer to be 7 yards greater than the height. She wants the area to be 275 square yards. The situation is molded by the equation h^2+5h=275. Round to the nearest hundredth of a yard.

Public Comments

1. Do you know what the quadratic formula is? Well for ax² + bx + c = 0, x = (-b +/- sqrt(b² - 4ac))/(2a) So h² + 5h - 275 = 0 h = (-5 +/- sqrt(5² - 4(-275)))/(2) h = (-5 +/- sqrt(1125))/2 The negative root doesn't work so h = 28.54 yards
2. solve(h^2 + 5*h - 275 = 0) h1 = - 5/2 + (15/2)*sqrt(5), h2 = - 5/2 - (15/2)*sqrt(5) h = 14.27050983sqyd.
3. A = (a+b)h/2 = (h+3 + h+7)h/2 = h² + 5h = 275 h² + 5h - 275 = 0 h = (1/2)[-5±√(25+4*275)] = (-5±√1125)/2 h = (-5±33.541)/2 (neglect the negative value) h = 28.541/2 = 14.27 yard Previous answers are correct except one forgot to divide by 2 and the other uses square yards for a linear measurement. ...