Question

A pool measuring 14 meters by 22 meters is surrounded by a path of uniform​ width, as shown in the figure. If the area of the pool and the path combined is 1008 square​ meters, what is the width of the​ path?
14
22
14 + 2x
22 + 2x
.
.
.
Question content area right
Part 1
The width of the path is
  
enter your response here meters.

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To find the width of the path surrounding the pool, let's denote the width of the path as \( x \) meters.

The dimensions of the pool are:

- Length = 22 meters
- Width = 14 meters

With the path of width \( x \) surrounding the pool, the overall dimensions of the pool plus the path will be:

- Overall Length = \( 22 + 2x \)
- Overall Width = \( 14 + 2x \)

The area of the pool plus the path combined is given to be 1008 square meters. Therefore, we can set up the following equation for the area:

\[
(22 + 2x)(14 + 2x) = 1008
\]

Now, let's expand this equation:

\[
22 \cdot 14 + 22 \cdot 2x + 14 \cdot 2x + 4x^2 = 1008
\]

Calculating \( 22 \cdot 14 \):

\[
308 + 44x + 28x + 4x^2 = 1008
\]

Combining like terms:

\[
4x^2 + 72x + 308 = 1008
\]

Now, let's subtract 1008 from both sides:

\[
4x^2 + 72x + 308 - 1008 = 0
\]

This simplifies to:

\[
4x^2 + 72x - 700 = 0
\]

Now, we can divide the entire equation by 4 to simplify it:

\[
x^2 + 18x - 175 = 0
\]

Next, we can solve this quadratic equation using the quadratic formula:

\[
x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}
\]

Here, \( a = 1 \), \( b = 18 \), and \( c = -175 \):

Calculating the discriminant:

\[
b^2 - 4ac = 18^2 - 4 \cdot 1 \cdot (-175) = 324 + 700 = 1024
\]

Now, substituting back into the quadratic formula:

\[
x = \frac{-18 \pm \sqrt{1024}}{2 \cdot 1} = \frac{-18 \pm 32}{2}
\]

This gives us two potential values for \( x \):

1. \( x = \frac{14}{2} = 7 \)
2. \( x = \frac{-50}{2} = -25 \) (not a valid solution since width cannot be negative)

Thus, the width of the path is:

\[
\boxed{7} \text{ meters}
\]