Question 28141
first, draw the diagram.


Draw a square... 12 by 12 depicting the matting and then draw a rectangle inside, representing the picture.


Let the width between the picture and the matting be x
Let the height between the picture and the matting be 2x


So, width of picture is (12-2x)
and height of picture is (12-4x)


area of picture is (12-2x)(12-4x) = 54


Multiply it out, collect terms, make it equal to zero and then factorise.


Answers are x=7.5 or 1.5
only 1.5 makes sense.... this gives dimensions of 9 by 6.


jon.