SOLUTION: Width of a flower border A landscape architect has included a rectangular flower bed measuring 9 ft by 5 ft in her plans for a new buiding. She wants to use two colors of flowers

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Question 173648This question is from textbook College Algebra
: Width of a flower border A landscape architect has included a rectangular flower bed measuring 9 ft by 5 ft in her plans for a new buiding. She wants to use two colors of flowers in the bed, one in the center and the other for a border of the same width on all four sides. If she has enough plants to cover 24 ft^2 for the border, how wide can the border be?
(9-2x)(5-2x)=24
45-18x-10x+4x^2=24
4x^2-28x+21=0
This question is from textbook College Algebra

Answer by scott8148(6628) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
your equation has a slight glitch

the total area of the flower bed is 9*5 or 45 ft^2
if the border is 24 ft^2, then the portion in your eqn should be 45-24 or 21

(9-2x)(5-2x)=21 __ 4x^2-28x+24=0

dividing by 4 __ x^2-7x+6=0

factoring __ (x-6)(x-1)=0

x equals 1 and 6, but 6 is greater than the width of the bed __ so 1 is the answer