Quandaries and Queries
 

 

Question:
I am trying to determine the dimensions of a 22 megapixel digital camera chip that has a 3:2 ratio. We know then, that:

3x = 2y (or 1.5x = y)

and that

xy = 22

Beyond this, I don't know how to hook those 2 seemingly unrelated facts together.

Thank you for your help.

Matt

 

 

Hi Matt,

You haven't said what the units of x and y are. The prefix "mega" means 106 so if you want x and y to be in pixels you need the second equation to be

xy = 22,000,000

Your first equation is

y = 1.5 x

The way to connect these two equations is to substitute y = 1.5 x into the first equation to get

xy = x (1.5)x = 22,000,000
1.5 x2 = 22,000,000

Now solve for x.

Penny

 
 

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