A floor is covered with tiles that are 2 inches longer in width and length. The new flooring requires 600 tiles. What is the length of a side of one of the new tiles?

Question

A gymnasium floor is being covered by square shock-absorbing tiles. The new tiles are 2 inches larger in length and width than the old tiles. The new flooring will require only 600 tiles. What is the length of a side of one of the new shock-absorbing tiles? (Hint: Since the area is the same in each case write an expression for area with old tiles and one with new tiles. Set them equal to each other.)

Even with the hint, I can't seem to figure out the two equations to set equal to one another. Please offer some guidance.

Answer 1

This problem is incomplete, which may be why you're struggling with it. In order to solve the problem, you have to know how many tiles were used on the old floor. I searched your question on Google and found this, which I believe is the completed question:

A gymnasium floor is being covered by square shock-absorbing tiles. The old gym floor required 864 square tiles. The new tiles are 2 inches larger in both length and width than the old tiles. The new flooring will require only 600 tiles. What is the length of a side of one of the new shock-absorbing tiles? (Hint: Since the area is the same in each case, write an expression for area with old tiles and one with new tiles. Set the two expressions equal to each other.)

Now you should be able to set up your two equations and solve.

Hope this helps! :)