SOLUTION: A rectangular flower garden in a park is 30 feet wide and 40 feet long. A sidewalk around the perimeter of the garden is being planned, as shown in the figure. The gardener

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Question 747422:
A rectangular flower garden
in a park is 30 feet wide and 40 feet long. A sidewalk
around the perimeter of the garden is being
planned, as shown in the figure. The gardener has
enough money to pour 624 square feet of cement
sidewalk. what is the width of the sidewalk.

Answer by FrankM(1040) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The new dimension is (2X+30)(2X+40) where x is the width of the walk.
%284x%5EX+%2B+140X+%2B+1200%29+-+624+=+1200. New area less the walk equals original area
+%284X%5E2+%2B+140X+-+624%29+=+0+. Subtract 1200 from both sides.
+X%5E2+%2B+35X+-+156+=+0+. Divided both sides by 4
+%28X+%2B+39%29+%28X+-+4%29+
If we were simply solving for x, we'd have -39 as one answer, but since it's a problem with dimensions, we discard, and accept the 4 only. The walk is 4 feet wide.
38 x 48 = 1824 or 624 more than the original 1200