A decorator plans to place a rug in a room 9 m by 12 m in such a way that a uniform strip of flooring around the rug will remain uncovered. If the rug is to cover half the floor space, what should the dimensions of the rug be?

Question

A decorator plans to place a rug in a room 9 m by 12 m in such a way that a uniform strip of flooring around the rug will remain uncovered.  If the rug is to cover half the floor space, what should the dimensions of the rug be?

anonymous · Answer

Let the width of the uniform strip be x.....

tad1 · Answer

(1/2)(9)(12) = (9 - 2x)(12- 2x)
I drew a picture and labeled it first.

anonymous · Answer

Thanks Seeing it in picture form helps a lot great idea

anonymous · Answer

6 m by 9 m is it ?

tad1 · Answer

it checks.  54 is half of 9 by 12
what did you get for x?

anonymous · Answer

yeah but when i divided itby 9 i got 6