The area of a rectangle is 24 square inches. The length of the rectangle is 2 inches more than the width. How many inches is the width?

Let x = the number of inches in the width and let x + 2 = the number of inches in the length. Because area of a rectangle is length times width, the equation for the area of the rectangle is x(x + 2) = 24. Multiply the left side of the equation by using the distributive property: x² + 2x = 24. Put the equation within standard form and set it equal to zero: x² + 2x - 24 = 0. Factor the left side of the equation: (x + 6)(x - 4) = 0. Set every factor equal to zero and solve: x + 6 = 0 or x - 4 = 0; x = -6 or x = 4. Reject the solution of -6 because a distance will not be negative. The width is 4 inches.