Math Alegbra 2 Help Please

Question

A rectangular crate of bottles holds 72 bottles. The rows across the width of the crate hold 1 bottle less than the rows across the length of the crate. Write an equation where b is the number of bottles in the longer rows that can be used to solve this problem. Solve the equation. How many bottles are there in the longer rows?

Answer 1

b(b-1) = 72

b^2 -b =72

b^2 -b -72 = 0

(b-9)(b+8) = 0

set each factor = 0 (ignore the negative solution)

b = 9 bottles in the longer rows

b-1 = 8 bottles in the shorter rows

9x8 = 72 bottles total