To find the length of the sides of a square when you are given its area, you can follow these steps:
1. Understand the relationship between the area and the side length of a square:
- The area of a square is given by the formula [tex]\( \text{Area} = \text{side length} \times \text{side length} \)[/tex] or [tex]\( A = s^2 \)[/tex], where [tex]\( A \)[/tex] is the area and [tex]\( s \)[/tex] is the side length.
2. Set up the equation using the given area:
- We are given that the area of the square is 144 square inches ([tex]\( A = 144 \, \text{in}^2 \)[/tex]). So, we can write the equation as:
[tex]\[
s^2 = 144
\][/tex]
3. Solve for the side length:
- To find [tex]\( s \)[/tex], we take the square root of both sides of the equation. The principle operation here is:
[tex]\[
s = \sqrt{144}
\][/tex]
4. Calculate the square root:
- The square root of 144 is 12.
Therefore, the length of each side of the square is [tex]\( 12 \)[/tex] inches.
