SOLUTION: Help please. If the sides of a square are decreased by 2cm, the area is decreased by 36cm^2. What were the dimensions of the original square?

Question 83589: Help please.
If the sides of a square are decreased by 2cm, the area is decreased by 36cm^2. What were the dimensions of the original square?
Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x be the original dimension (side) of the square.
The original area would then be:
Now if you decrease the original side by 2cm, you will have (x-2) and the new area can be found by , which is given in the problem as .
Now you can set up the equation to solve for x:
Simplify and solve for x.
Subtract from both sides.
Subtract 4 from both sides.
Divide both sides by -4.
The dimensions of the original square were 10cm by 10cm.
Check:
The original area was:

sq.cm.
The new area is:

sq.cm.
= 36sq.cm.

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