Question 116522: If the sides of a square are decreased by 2 cm, the area is decreased by
36 cm^2. What were the dimensions of the original square? huh? Found 2 solutions by josmiceli, solver91311:Answer by josmiceli(19441) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let = the original sides of the square
Let = the original area of the square cm answer
The original square was 10 cm X 10 cm
check answer
If I decrease A by 36, I get 64 cm2, and that's
an 8 X 8 square or (10-2) X (10-2)
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Start with defining a variable to represent the length of a side of the original square, let's call it x.
So the area of the original square would be .
The new square is 2 cm shorter on each side, so one of the sides must measure , and the area of the new square must be .
But we know that . Substituting: .
Now, expand the binomial, collect terms, and put the equation in standard form.
