SOLUTION: A 2 ft. wide path is made around a square garden. The path is 376 sq. ft. in area. Determine a side of the garden. S = side Area of garden; S * S = S^2 Not sure how t

Question 1158846: A 2 ft. wide path is made around a square garden. The path is 376 sq. ft. in area. Determine a side of the garden.
S = side
Area of garden; S * S = S^2

Not sure how to proceed.

Answer by greenestamps(13200) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The square garden is s feet on a side; its area is s^2.

With the path 2 feet wide around the garden, the garden plus path makes a square (s+4) feet on a side.

The area of the path (376 sq ft) is the area of the garden plus path, minus the area of the garden:

You can come up with the same equation to solve using common sense instead of formal algebra.

With s the length of a side of the garden, the 2 foot wide path consists of a strip with area 2 times s on each of the four sides, plus a 2-by-2 square in each corner; the total area of the path is 376 sq ft:

Same equation as before....

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