Question

The area of a rectangle is 33m², and the length of the rectangle is 5 m less than double the width. Find the dimensions of the rectangle

Answer 1

11/2 m by 5 m

Explanation:

We can take the width to be x and the length to be 2x-5 (because its 5 less than double the width)

Then we know length * width = area, so we substitute our values in.

x(2x-5) = 33

2x^2 - 5x = 33

2x^2 - 5x - 33 = 0

Now we solve the quadratic equation for x by factoring.

(2x-11)(x+3) = 0

x = 11/2 and x = -3

The dimension couldn't possibly be -3 so we eliminate that choice, leaving us with the answer of 11/2 for our width.

width = 11/2

length = 2*11/2 - 5 = 11 - 5 = 6

So the dimensions are 11/2 m by 5 m