Question

Sonya wants to sew ribbon along each side of a square pillow. If the pillow has an area of 144 square inches, how much ribbon would she buy to have the exact amount she needs

Answer 1

area of a square equals the length of one side squared:

$a = {length}^{2}$

to find the length of one side:
$length = \sqrt{area}$

Plugging in:
$length = \sqrt{144 } = 12$

Since there are 4 sides to a square we multiply the length of one side (12 inches) by 4 to see all the way around.

$12 \times 4 = 48$

Sonya would need 48 inches