The length of a garden is 4 m longer than the width. if the area of the garden is 196m^2, find the width of the garden.

L = 4 + w

w = w

A = 196 m^2

A = lw

A = (4+w) w

196 = w^2 + 4w

w^2 + 4w - 196 = 0

The quadratic roots (or zeros) of the function are 12 and - 16.

Since - 16 does not make sense as a measure of width, then 12 is the answer.