In order to double the carpeted area in an office lobby, a decorator adds a strip of carpet on all 4 sides of a 4 yd by 6 yd rectangle that is now carpeted. How wide is the strip?

Well the beginning carpeted area is 24ft^2 that means that the desired carpeted area is 48ft^2. What two numbers multiplied together make 48? 4x12, 6x8, 16x3, 24x2, etc. 6x8 meets our requirements though because you could get these measurements by adding 1ft to each side of the carpet amounting to 6ftx8ft. Depending on which side they consider to be width, it is going to be either 6 or 8ft