 |
| ||
| |||
|
| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
|
Question from Diana, a student: Car manufacturers have outdone themselves. They have discovered how to shrink a car to make parking easier. At the touch of a button, a car shrinks by 2 feet in the width and 4 feet in the length. The original car base is 24 square feet longer than that of the shrunken car. If the original cars length is twice the width, find the dimensions of both cars. Identify the unknowns carefully. |
Hi Diana,
I think that the next to the last sentence should be "The original car base is 24 square feet larger than that of the shrunken car."
Suppose the original car is x feet long and y feet wide. You know that " the original cars length is twice the width" so x = 2y. Write an expression for the area of the base of the original car in terms of y alone.?
What is the length of the shrunken car? What is is width? What is the area of its base? Write this as an expression of y alone. You know that this is 24 square feet smaller than the base of the original car. Solve for y.
Penny
| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
 |
|
Math Central is supported by the University of Regina and The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.