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Suppose that the area of a square lawn is 4x^2 + 16x + 16. What is the length of one side of the lawn?

User Meijuh
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1 Answer

13 votes

Answer:

2x+4

Explanation:

remember the formula (a+b)^2=a^2+b^2+2ab

in this case, 4x^2 would be a^2, 16 would be b^2, and 16x would be 2ab

so, the variable a would be 2x and the variable b would be 4

so, you can turn 4x^2+16x+16 into (2x+4)^2

and since the area of a square is (one of its sides)^2, or in this case (2x+4)^2, the length of one side of the lawn will be 2x+4

problems where you have to use the (a+b)^2=a^2+b^2+2ab formula to turn trinomials into binomials squared are very common, so make sure to look out for questions like these and be ready to use this formula

User Wictor Chaves
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