SOLUTION: Please help. If the sides of a square are lengthened by 8cm, the area becomes 169cm^2. Find the length of the original square. Thank you.

Question 177383: Please help. If the sides of a square are lengthened by 8cm, the area becomes 169cm^2. Find the length of the original square.
Thank you.
Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let s = the length of the side of the original square.
If you increase this by 8 cm (s+8) and square it ((s+8)*(s+8)) you get 169 sq.cm. So you can write:
Square the left side.
Subtract 169 from both sides.
Factor this quadratic equation.
Apply the zero product rule:
or which means that...
or Discard the negative solution as the length of the sides can only be positive.
cm This is the length of the side of the original square.
Check:

OK!
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