The Park Committee wants to put new rubber mats underneath the jungle gym and swing set areas of the park. The jungle gym
is a square section with an area of 144 square feet. The swing
set is a rectangular section that has the same perimeter as the
jungle gym and a length of 6 feet. How many square feet of
rubber matting will the Park Committee need to purchase to
cover the jungle gym and swing set floor?

First step is to get rid of the square root. remember that a square root is the same as raising to the (1/2) power. see below: multiply exponents per exponent rules to get: remember you subtract exponents from the denominator and add exponents in the numerator so: simplify further: so a is the correct choice. if you don't understand this google exponent rules and it will you understand. look at the image results.