SOLUTION: Help, I'm so confused! The senior class has decided to build an outdoor pavilion. It will have an 8-foot by 8-foot portrayal of the school's mascot in the center. The class is sel

Question 1016045: Help, I'm so confused!
The senior class has decided to build an outdoor pavilion. It will have an 8-foot by 8-foot portrayal of the school's mascot in the center. The class is selling bricks with the students names on them to finance the project. If they sell enough bricks to cover 80 square feet and want to arrange the bricks around the art, how wide should the border of bricks be? To solve this problem you need to solve the equation: (8 + 2x)^2 = 144.
Question: Explain how the equation(8 + 2x)^2 = 144 models the given situation. For x I got 2 but I dont know how the equation and the number two ties into the whole brick thing. Can you explain what each number means to the situation?
Answer by richard1234(7193) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
My best advice is: forget the sentence "To solve this problem you need to solve the equation: (8+2x)^2 = 144." It is very confusing when put in that context, and the problem doesn't appear to be a very good one (in terms of quality).

The area of the artwork is 64 ft^2. Then the area of the bricks and art combined is 64 ft^2 + 80 ft^2 = 144 ft^2 (so here is where 144 comes in).

Assuming an equal border of length x ft around all sides, the bricks and art form a square of side length (8+2x) ft (see why?). Then because its area if 144 ft^2, we have (8+2x)^2 = 144.
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