The owner of an office building is expanding the length and width of a parking lot by the same amount. The lot currently measures 120 ft by 80 ft, and the expansion will increase its area by 4,400 ft2. By how many feet should the length of the parking lot be increased? cap A is equal to l w

Let x be the number of feet added to both dimensions. The new area is (120 + x)(80 + x), so the increase is x² + 200x; set this equal to 4,400: x² + 200x − 4,400 = 0. Factoring gives (x + 220)(x − 20) = 0, and the positive solution is x = 20. The length should be increased by 20 feet, choice B.

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