Diesel Inc. is making frames for a new product being launched at the end of the year. To keep the weight down, the area of the frame should be 18 cm2. The inside of the frame has to be 11 cm by 6 cm. What should the width of the frame be?

To answer, allow the width of the frame to be represented by x. The dimensions of the frame should then be, 11+2x and 6+2x. Subtracting the area of the inside of the frame from the area of the outside should be able to give us 18 cm². The equation,

(11 + 2x) (6 + 2x) - (11) (6) = 18

The value of x from the equation is equal to 0.5. Thus, the width of the frame should be 0.5 cm.