SOLUTION: A picture 16 inches by 20 inches is to be mounted on a piece of matboard so that there is an even amount of mat all around the picture. How wide will the border be if the area of t

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Question 890629: A picture 16 inches by 20 inches is to be mounted on a piece of matboard so that there is an even amount of mat all around the picture. How wide will the border be if the area of the border is 352 square inches?
Answer by josgarithmetic(39617) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The combined area of picture with border using some unknown width w, is
total area, %282w%2B16%29%282w%2B20%29.

The difference between total area and picture area must be 352 square inches:
highlight_green%28%282w%2B16%29%282w%2B20%29-16%2A20=352%29.

The simplest first simplification is eliminate a factor of 4:
highlight_green%28%28w%2B8%29%28w%2B10%29-4%2A20=88%29
and then
%28w%2B8%29%28w%2B10%29=88%2B80=168
highlight_green%28%28w%2B8%29%28w%2B10%29=168%29


You can finish the arithmetic.