Question

Eleanor and max used two rectangular wooden boards to make a set for the school play.one board was 6 feet long and the other board was 5 and 1/2 feet long. the two boards had equal widths .The total are off the set was 60 3/8 square feet.What was the width??

Answer 1

By definition, the area of a rectangle is:

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Where,

w: width of the rectangle

l: length of the rectangle

The total area is given by:

`image`

Where,

A1: rectangular wooden board 1

A2: rectangular wooden board 2

Substituting we have:

`image`

Rewriting we have:

`image`

`image`

`image`

`image`

Answer:

The width is given by:

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Answer 2

Area = Length × Width

60 3/8 = (5 1/2 × w) + (6 × w)
60 3/8 = 11 1/2 + 2w
48 7/8 = 2w
24 7/16 = w

Width: 24 7/16