Help with exponential equation word problem please ?

Question

pottersheep · Answer

Pleasee help. "A rug is needed to cover 2 thirds of the area of a room with dimensions 8 x 12. The uncovered part of the floor will form a border of uniform width around the rug. Determine the width of the border.

anonymous · Answer

You don't know the width of the rug will be 4.

anonymous · Answer

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Write an expression for the width of the rug in terms of x.  Write another expression for the length of the rug in terms of x.  Write an expression for the area of the rug using your expressions for length and width.  You can also calculate the actual area the rug needs to be from the numbers in the problem.  Set these equal (expression for the area, actual area) to each other and solve for x.  You will get 2 solutions, but only one of them will be sensible.