A rectangular deck is 12 ft by 14 ft. When the length and width are increased by the same amount, the area becomes 288 sq. ft. By how much were the dimensions increased?

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asked Nov 11, 2017 84.0k views

2 Answers

Mekazu · Answer 1 · 2017-11-17T19:24:10+0000

The solution would be like this for this specific problem:

Dimensions of rectangle = 12 + x and 14 + x

(12 + x) (14 + x) = 288

x² + 26x + 168 = 288

x² + 26x - 120 = 0

(x + 30) (x - 4) = 0

x=-30, x =4

The dimensions increased by 4 feet.