Question

The area of a square is 256cm2. When each side of the square is increased by x cm, its area becomes 324 cm2.Find the value of x.

Answer 1

Answer: x = 2

Step-by-step explanation:

First, let's take the root of 256 to find the length of each side before the addition of x.

$\sqrt{256} = 16$

This means 16 cm is the length of each side before the addition of x.

Then increase each side by X to get

$(16 + x)(16 + x) = 324$

$256 + 16x + 16x + x^2=324$

$x^2+32x -68=0$

$x=2$  or   $x=-34$

The value cannot be negative so x has to be 2