SOLUTION: A gardening measuring 7 meters by 17 meters is to have a pedestrian pathway installed all around it, increasing the total are to 200 square meters. What will be the width of the pa

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Question 873259: A gardening measuring 7 meters by 17 meters is to have a pedestrian pathway installed all around it, increasing the total are to 200 square meters. What will be the width of the pathway?

Answer by Seutip(231) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
If the length is 17m and width is 7m,
Let:
x- be the width of the pathway.
Therefore,
17+x - be the length
7+x - be the width
The area now will be 200+m%5E2 right?
So:
A=lw
200=%2817%2Bx%29%287%2Bx%29
200=119%2B17x%2B7x%2Bx%5E2
200=119%2B24x%2Bx%5E2
81=14x%2Bx%5E2
x%5E2%2B24x-81=0
%28x-3%29%28x%2B27%29
Therefore
x=3 or x=-27
Since we don't accept negative widths the answer is 3m! Hope that helps!
Steffy