you have a 5-inch by 7-inch picture that you framed. When you hung the picture, you found that the entire area is 69.56 in. What is the width of the frame?

Answer:
d. 2.4 in
Step-by-step explanation:
So initially w/o frame the area was 5 x 7 = 35 sq in.
Now we have to add the width of the frame to both dimensions.
(5+w)(7+w) = 69.56 sq in
35 + 7w + 5w + w² = 69.56
w² + 12w + 35 = 69.56
w² + 12w - 34.56 = 0
I use the quadratic formula to solve this (x = -b±√b²-4ac / 2a). I cheat by using a quadratic program on the calculator :,)
w = 2.4
w = -14.4
Since we can't have a negative width, the answer must be w = 2.4 inches.
You can also just plug the answer choices one-by-one into the calculator with guess-and-check because this is multiple choice.
Answer: d) 2.4 inches
Step-by-step explanation:
Let x represent the width of the frame
Then the area of the frame is:
(x + 5)(x + 7) = 69.56
Rewrite it in Standard form of a quadratic equation:
x² + 12x + 35 = 69.56
x² + 12x - 34.56 = 0
Use Quadratic Formula to solve for x:
[tex]x=\dfrac{-b+\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}\\\\\\x=\dfrac{-12+\sqrt{12^2-4(1)(-34.56)}}{2(1)}\\\\\\x=\dfrac{-12+\sqrt{282.24}}{2}\\\\\\x=\dfrac{-12+16.6}{2}\\\\\\x=\dfrac{4.8}{2}\\\\\\x=\large\boxed{2.4}[/tex]