*lin had a rectangular carpet. it was too large for her living room, and so on each side of the carpet, she cut a stripe 1 foot wide. as a result, the area of the carpet became 26 ft2 smaller. what was the original perimeter of the carpet?

Let the original length of the carpet be L and the original width of the carpet W, then



Therefore, the initial perimeter of the carpet is 30 feet.

30 ft Let's assume the original dimension of the carpet was LxW. Now let's have Lin cut a 1 foot wide strip from the length. That gives her a strip that's L feet long. She then cuts a strip from the other side, giving her another strip that L feet long. She then cuts a strip from the width, giving her a 3rd strip that's (W-2) feet long. And finally, she cuts a 4th strip that's also W-2 feet long. So the total length of all those strips is L + L + W - 2 + W - 2 = 2L + 2W - 4 feet long. And since all the strips are 1 foot wide, they cover 2L + 2W - 4 square feet. So: 2L + 2W - 4 = 26 2L + 2W = 30 Now the original perimeter of the carpet is 2L + 2W, therefore the original perimeter is 30 feet.