A chessboard has an area of 324 square inches. There is a 1 - inch border around 64 squares on the board. What is the length of one side of the region containing a small squares?

Step-by-step explanation:

the length of the whole board is 2 inches more than the length of the squares part (one inch all around)

(L + 2) ^2 = 324 ___ L^2 + 4L + 4 = 324 ___ L^2 + 4L - 320 = 0

factoring ___ (L + 20) (L - 16) = 0

L + 20 = 0 ___ L = - 20 ___ negative value not realistic

L - 16 = 0 ___ L = 16