Nicole used 3/8 of her ribbon to wrap a present. if she used 6 feet of ribbon for the present, how much ribbon did nicole have at first?
explain.

You would set up a proportion. 3/8 = 6/x... cross multiply ( 3*x = 3x and 6*8 = 48)  3x = 48... divide both sides by 3 (3x/3 = x and 48/3 = 16)

Therefore, she originally had 16 feet of ribbon.

Solution: x2+4x=276x=27,x=9/2answer: no