Answer:
Explanation:
The length of each side of a square is 3 inches more than the length of each side of a smaller square.
Let's let the smaller square side be variable X.
One side of the larger square is X+3.
The sum of the areas of the squares is 185 inches2
The area if a square is the square of the sides (x2) for the smaller one and (x+3)2 for the larger one.
The area of the larger one would be x2+6x+9. Now we add the smaller square
x2+6x+9+x2=185
Combine the like terms and you have 2x2+6x+9=185
Subtract 9 from both sides you get 2x2+6x=176
To write in standard form we need to subtract 176 from both sides so the equation will equal zero.
2x2+6x-176=0
We can factor out a 2:
x2+3x+88=0
We can factor and then solve:
x2+11x-8x-88=0
X(x+11)-8(x+11)=0
(x-8)(x+11)=0
(x-8)=0 or (x+11)=0
X=8 or x=-11
We can drop the negative number. So the side of the smaller square is 8 inches and the side of the larger square is 11 inches.
Now lets check it: 8*8=64 and 11*11 is 121. 64+121=185.