SOLUTION: Sally wants to put a border around a 4x6 inch picture. She would like the border to be twice the area of the picture. What is the border width should Sally use (in inches)?

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Question 883022: Sally wants to put a border around a 4x6 inch picture. She would like the border to be twice the
area of the picture. What is the border width should Sally use (in inches)?

Found 2 solutions by stanbon, josmiceli:
Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
ally wants to put a border around a 4x6 inch picture. She would like the border to be twice the
area of the picture. What is the border width should Sally use (in inches)?
--------
Draw the picture::
You have a rectangle inside a rectangle.
--------
The inner rectangle has area 4X6 = 24 in^2
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The ourter rectangle (including the inner) has area::
(6+2x)(4+2x) = 24 + 20x + 4x^2
----
The frame area = outer - inner = 4x^2 + 20x.
------
Equation:
4x^2 + 20x = 2*24
x^2 + 5x - 12 = 0
x = [-5 +- sqrt(25-4*-12)]/2 = (-5+sqrt(73))/2 = 1.77 inches)
=============
Cheers,
Stan H.
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Answer by josmiceli(19441) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The area of the picture is +4%2A6+=+24+ in2
Let +w+ = the width of the border
--------------------------------
Note that +2w+ gets added to each
dimension when you add the border
all around
------------
The area of the picture plus the border is:
+%28+4+%2B+2w+%29%2A%28+6+%2B+2w+%29+=+24+%2B+20w+%2B+4w%5E2+
The area of the border is:
+%28+24+%2B+20w+%2B+4w%5E2+%29+-+24+=+4w%5E2+%2B+20w+
------------------
Sally wants the area of the border to be
+2%2A4%2A6+=+48+ in2
------------------
+4w%5E2+%2B+20w+=+48+
Divide both sides by +4+
+w%5E2+%2B+5w+=+12+
-------------------
You can complete the square:
+w%5E2+%2B+5w+%2B+%285%2F2%29%5E2+=+12+%2B+%285%2F2%29%5E2+
+w%5E2+%2B+5w+%2B+25%2F4++=+48%2F4+%2B+25%2F4+
+%28+w+%2B+5%2F2+%29%5E2+=+73%2F4+
Take the square root of both sides
+w+%2B+5%2F2+=+sqrt%2873%29+%2F+2+
+w+=+%28+sqrt%2873%29+-+5+%29+%2F+2+
+w+=+%28+8.544+-+5+%29+%2F+2+
+w+=+3.544%2F2+
+w+=+1.772+
The border width should be 1.772 in
check:
+%28+4+%2B+2w+%29%2A%28+6+%2B+2w+%29+-+24+=+2%2A4%2A6+
+%28+4+%2B+2w+%29%2A%28+6+%2B+2w+%29+-+24+=+48+
+%28+4+%2B+3.544+%29%2A%28+6+%2B+3.544+%29+-+24+=+48+
+7.544%2A9.544+=+72+
+71.9999+=+72+
close enough
Hope I got it