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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from yolanda, a student: If the length of a rectangle is 3ft less than twice its width and the area of the rectangle is 54ft^2,what are the dimensions of the rectangle? |
Hi Yolanda,
The area of a rectangle is the length times the width. Look at the statement "the length of a rectangle is 3ft less than twice its width". This says that if you know the width in feet then the length is twice the width minus 3 feet. So I would begin by saying let $w$ be the width of the rectangle. Then the length of the rectangle is $2 \times w - 3.$ Now you have an equation "length times width equals 54 square feet". Solve for $w.$
Penny
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