Hello, magentarita!
Did you make a sketch?
A photo is 3 inches longer that it is wide.
A 2-inch border is placed around the photo.
The total area of the photo and border is 108 square inches.
What are the dimensions of the photo? Code:
: 2 : - W+3 - : 2 :
- *---*-----------*---* -
2 | : : | :
- * - *-----------* - * :
: | | | | :
W | |W | | W+4
: | | W+3 | | :
- * - *-----------* - * :
2 | : : | :
- *---*-----------*---* -
: - - - W+7 - - - :
Let
= width of the photo.
Then
= length of the photo.
With a two-inch border, the object has length
and width 
The total area is 108: . (W+4) \:=\:108 \quad\Rightarrow\quad W^2 + 11W - 80 \:=\:0)
. . which factors: . (W + 16) \:=\:0)
. . and has the positive root: . 
Therefore, the dimensons of the photo are: .
inches.