Short Answer

Scaling Heavy-Duty Shipping Containers

A packaging designer apprentice is drafting the dimensions for a heavy-duty square cardboard shipping container. To find the optimal cross-sectional scale factor xx, the apprentice writes down the quadratic equation 36x2=121{}36x^2 = 121. After rearranging this equation into standard form and factoring it, the apprentice obtains the factored equation (6x11)(6x+11)=0(6x - 11)(6x + 11) = 0.

To find the final positive scale factor xx, the apprentice must now apply a fundamental mathematical property to set each individual factor to zero. What is the name of this mathematical property, and how is it used to break the factored equation into two simpler linear equations?

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Updated 2026-06-02

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