Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 34 Issue 1, May 1997
46 – 47
Blueprints, the Division Algorithm, Consistent Systems and Augmented Matrices
David E. Dobbs
Suppose that you are trying to design a rectangular carpet (or poster or floor or … ) and you have decided to follow the plans in a crumpled old blueprint. The blueprint clearly specifies that the area of the rectangular region is to be 6x^2 + I9x + 12 and the length is 2x + 5. It is difficult to read the specified width of the rectangle because the blueprint is badly smudged, but it seems that the width is ax + b, for some numbers a and b. What can you conclude?
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