Hi! I'm happy to help!
To solve this, we first need to look at the perimeter equation:
P=2L+2W
We don't know our length, so we can represent it with x. Since our width is 2 feet shorter than x, we can represent it with x-2. Now, we plug these values into our equation:
56=2x+(2(x-2))
Let's simplify what the width is by multiplying:
56=2x+2x-4
Now, let's combine our 2xs
56=4x-4
Now, we just need to solve for x in order to find our length and width.
First, we need to isolate x on one side of the equation. We can do this by adding 4 to both sides:
56=4x-4
+4 +4
60=4x
Now, all we have to do is divide both sides by 4 and x will be fully isolated:
60=4x
÷4 ÷4
15=x
Now that we know x, let's plug this into our previous equations:
L=x=15
L=15
W=x-2=15-2=13
W=13
To verify our answers, we can plug this into our perimeter equation:
56=2(15)+2(13)
56=30+36
56=56
After double checking our answers, we know that our length is 15 and our width is 13.
I hope this was helpful, keep learning! :D