SOLUTION: Mellie plans to make a patio 12 feet by 12 feet. She decides to add a border of equal width around the patio to increase the total area to 180 square feet. What is the width of

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Question 1136797: Mellie plans to make a patio 12 feet by 12 feet. She decides to add a border of equal width around the patio to increase the total area to 180 square feet.
What is the width of this border, to the nearest tenth of a foot?
Answer Choices:
x=0.4
x=0.7
x=6.7
x=7.4
x=12.7

Found 2 solutions by josgarithmetic, ikleyn:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39618)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
, x is the uniform width of the border;





.
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Answer by ikleyn(52790)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
.
Notice that the old patio is a square.


New patio is a square, too.


The new patio side length is   = 13.42 feet.


The border width =  = 0.7 feet (rounded as requested).    ANSWER

Solved.

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To solve this problem, you do not need to setup and to solve a quadratic equation.


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