Question 257429
if the sides of a square are lengthened by 8cm, the area becomes 144cm^2. Find the length of a side of the original square.
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Let x = length of a side of the original square
then after the sides are lengthened by 8 cm we have
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(x+8)^2 = 144
Taking the square root of both sides:
x+8 = 12
x = 4 cm (length of a side of original square)