Question

Jillian is trying to save water, so she reduces the size of her square grass lawn by 8 feet on each side. The area of the smaller lawn is 144 square feet. In the equation

(x – 8)2 = 144, x represents the side measure of the original lawn.

Answer 1

The answer is 20 feet by 20 feet. Let's solve the equation: (x – 8)^2 = 144. (x - 8)^2 = 12^2. Since a^2 = b^2 is the same as a = b, then (x - 8)^2 = 12^2 can be simplified to: x - 8 = 12. Now, solve for x. x = 8 + 12. x = 20. Therefore, the dimensions of the original lawn were 20 feet by 20 feet.