Let's start by defining what we have and what we are looking for. We have the original area of the square, which we will call A1 We also have the area of the new square, which we will call A2 The problem tells us that A1 x 9 = A2 = 16, which means that A1 x 9 = 16 Dividing both sides by 9, we find that A1 = 16/9 Now, we also know that for any square, the area is the length of one side squared. That is, A=L2 So, A1 = 16/9 = L2 Now we take the square root of each side. √(16/9) = √L2 The square root of L2 is L, and so whatever is on the other side of the equation is equal to the length of that side. √(16/9)=√16/√9 = 4/3 Does that help?
