Well for part A if b is the cross product of a and x, then b is perpendicular to a and x, which would mean that its angle with a is 90. Since the dot product of a and b is equivalent to |a||b|cos([tex]\vartheta[/tex]), and since cos(90) = 0: the dot product must be 0.
Yes, I think for part B it's saying that that expression is the value of X.