Set up an equation and solve the problem. The sum of the areas of two squares is 1,813 square inches. Each side of the larger square is 6 times the length of a side of the smaller square. Find the length of a side of the smaller square.
A) 7 inches
B) 8 inches
C) 42 inches
D) 49 inches
E) none of these

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Let x be the side length of the smaller square. Then the side length of the larger square is 6x. The area of the smaller square is x^2, and the area of the larger square is (6x)^2 = 36x^2. The sum of the areas is x^2 + 36x^2 = 37x^2 = 1813. Solving for x, we get x^2 = 49, so x = 7 inches.

Set Up an Equation and Solve the Problem