Question

What is it telling me to do

Answer 1

This problem gives you the area of a square, and asks for the length of a side. The formula for the area
`A` of a square, knowing the side
`s`, is

`A = s^2`

But we are in the opposite situation: we know the area and we are looking for the side. So, we need to invert the formula above:

`s = \pm√(A)`

But since the length of a side can't be negative, we choose

`s = √(A)`

So, if we plug the value for the area, we have

`s = √(20.25) = 4.5`