A 4 ft thick slice is cut off the top of a cube resulting in

A 4 ft thick slice is cut off the top of a cube, resulting in rectangular box that has volume 46 ft^3. Use the SLEKS graphing calculator to find the side length of the original cube. Round your answer to two decimal places.

Solution

Let x = the side of the cube
x^3 = original vol of the cube
4x^2 = vol of the 8 ft slice
Therefore:
x^3 - 4x^2 = 46
=> x^3 - 4x^2 - 46 = 0

Using calculator x=5.51 ft, original side length