The length of a rectangular floor is 2 feet more than its width. The area of the floor is 168 square feet. Kim wants to use a rug in the middle of the room and leave a 2-foot border of the floor visible on all sides. What should the width (the shorter side) of the rug be?

Question

Charity Wu

Mathematics

6 February, 23:47

The length of a rectangular floor is 2 feet more than its width. The area of the floor is 168 square feet. Kim wants to use a rug in the middle of the room and leave a 2-foot border of the floor visible on all sides. What should the width (the shorter side) of the rug be?

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Answers (1)

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Grant Campos · Answer 1

Let width of the floor be x feet, them area is

x (x+2) = 168

x^2 + 2x - 168 = 0

(x - 12) (x + 14) - 0

so x = 12

the floor is 12 ft by 10 ft

the width of the rug should be 10 - 2 (2) = 6 feet