SOLUTION: a square building is surrounded by a flowerbed 1.25 m wide. if the area of the flowerbed is 46.25m^2, what is the area of the building?

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Question 1021573: a square building is surrounded by a flowerbed 1.25 m wide. if the area of the flowerbed is 46.25m^2, what is the area of the building?
Answer by robertb(5830) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let x bet the measure of the square side of the building. Since the flowerbed is 1.25 m wide, the measure of the side of the bigger square enclosing the building is x + 2*1.25 = x+2.5.
==> %28x%2B2.5%29%5E2+-+x%5E2+=+46.25
==> x%5E2%2B5x+%2B+6.25+-+x%5E2+=+46.25
==> 5x + 6.25 = 46.25
==> 5x = 40 ==> x = 8 m.
Therefore the area of the building is 64 sq.m.