Question

The length of each side of a square is 3 inches more than the length of each side of a smaller square. The sum of the areas of the squares is 369 inches. Find the lengths of the sides of the two squares.

Answer 1

Since the area of a square is x^2, (x^2)+(x+3)^2=369, we simplify the equation to get 2x^2+6x+9=369. Then we subtract 369 from both sides to get 2x^2+6x+360=0. We then factor it and get 2(x-12)(x+15)=0
x can be 12 or -15