OG 10 Edition PS 404

if we set up the quadratic equation as per the given information all 3 values seem to be possible.so imo e.
whats oa?

yup the OA is E.Could u just explain the reasoning?

if length of square is x an width is y we have x^2 /(x+2y)^2 = 25/36.we need to know y .this gives us 14 x ^ 2 -100 xy -100 y ^2 =0 . you need not really solve this equation but you can see that for every value of y there is a possible value of x(mind x need not be an integer)..
hence answer is e.some other approach/explanation awaited.

It is very easy to waste a lot of time on this type of question, but don't!

Two things that you should spot immediately are:

1) There was no qualifications given for the answer(ie. it doesn't say it has to be an integer)

2) The ratio given isn't very easy to work with algebraically. 25/36 would have been much more friendly.

The only criteria that has to be met is the 25/39 ratio.

(25/39)x , where x>0 satisfies this. (x could be .0000023, .1, 54, 1000, etc.)

With that said, ANY positive number COULD be the width.