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Question from Denise, a student:

Please help me, I'm desperate, I've been working on this problem for 2 days and I can't figure it out. Please show your work."A rectangle has a diagonal that is 3.6 feet longer than the length and 7.1 feet longer than the width. What are the dimensions of the rectangle?

We have two responses for you

Denise,

Let d be the length of the diagonal. Then the length is d-3.6 and the width is d-7.1. Pythagoras' Theorem gives you a relationship between the length, width and diagonal since these are the sides of a right triangle.

Does this help?

Victoria

 

Let D be measure (in feet) of the diagonal, L the length and W the width. By the Pythagorean formula, D2 = L2 + W2. But the text also says that D = L + 3.6, and D = W + 7.1. This should be enough to help you find L, W and D.

Claude

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