The length of a side of a square is . If the area of the square is 12, find x.

Hi Dragonslayer,

If it was the perimeter, that is the distance around the outside that was 12 units you would be correct but it is not.

It is the area that is 12 units.  That is the number of squares that fit inside.  so CPhill's answer is correct. 

I'm assuming that x represents the side of the square.  And the area of a square is given by:    A = side²

Therefore:

12= side²      take the square root of both sides

√12 = side = 2√3

X can be 3 because if you divide 12 by 4, the answer is 3.