Arectangular deck is 12 ft by 14 ft. when the length and width are increased by the same amount, the area becomes 288 sq. ft. by how much were the dimensions increased?
2 ft
4 ft
8 ft
10 ft

The answer is 4 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

A rectangular deck is 12 ft by 14 ft.

When the length and width are increased by the same amount, the area becomes 288 sq. ft.

Area is given as = length x width

Let the dimensions be increased by 'x' units.

So, we can say that

Solving this we get,

Arranging in a proper way we get;

This gives factors: (x+30) and (x-4)

This further gives either x = -30 (neglecting the negative value)

And x = 4

So, the dimensions were increased by 4 feet.

We can check this by finding the area.

Putting x = 4, we get;

feet square

Therefore, the answer is 4 feet.