Nathan has a sculpture in the shape of a pyramid. The height of the sculpture is 3 centimeters less than the side length, x, of its square base. Nathan uses the formula for the volume of a pyramid to determine the dimensions of the sculpture:

Here, a is the side length of the pyramid’s square base and h is its height.

If 162 cubic centimeters of clay were used to make the sculpture, the equation x3 +
x2 +
= 0 can be used to find that the length of the sculpture’s base is
centimeters.