Question

A banner maker was asked to redesign a squarebanner by increasing the width by 4 feet anddecreasing the length by 2 feet. The total area of thenew banner was 91 square feet.What was the length of the side of the original squarebanner?

Answer 1

Let:

x = original sides.

x + 4 = new width

x - 2 = new feet

So:

(x + 4)(x - 2) = 91

x² - 2x + 4x - 8 - 91 = 0

x² + 2x - 99 = 0

Factoring:

(x + 11)(x - 9) = 0

x = -11 (the lenght can't be negative so this answer is not valid)

x = 9 ft