A gardener has 1000 plants. He wants to plant these in such a way that the number of rows and the number of columns remain same. Find the minimum number of plants he needs more for this.

Options

A. `25`
B. `24`
C. `26`
D. `21`

Explanation

To solve the problem step by step, we need to find out how many more plants the gardener needs to make the total number of plants a perfect square. Here’s how we can do it:

### Step 1: Understand the Problem
The gardener has 1000 plants and wants to arrange them in such a way that the number of rows and columns is the same, which means he wants to form a square arrangement. Therefore, we need to find the smallest perfect square greater than or equal to 1000.

### Step 2: Identify the Nearest Perfect Squares
Perfect squares are numbers that can be expressed as the square of an integer. We will calculate the squares of integers around the square root of 1000.

- The square root of 1000 is approximately 31.62.
- The nearest integers are 31 and 32.

Calculating their squares:
- \(31^2 = 961\)
- \(32^2 = 1024\)

### Step 3: Determine the Next Perfect Square
From our calculations:
- 961 is less than 1000.
- 1024 is greater than 1000.

Since we want the smallest perfect square that is greater than 1000, we will use 1024.

### Step 4: Calculate the Additional Plants Needed
Now, we need to find out how many more plants are needed to reach 1024 from 1000.

\[ \text{Additional plants needed} = 1024 - 1000 = 24 \]

### Conclusion
The gardener needs **24 more plants** to arrange them in equal rows and columns.

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