For this problem we know that the lenght of a rectangle is 7 ft less than the width who represent this equation:
![L=w-7](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/6itg4ou73e3smh6wij210bfsjzcu4rmqlp.png)
With L the lenght and w the width. We also know that the perimeter of the rectangle is given by 78 ft and we need to find the width. The perimeter is defined as:
![P=2L+2w](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/xat8uonwd226oi3omd0i2obodvr417nq8i.png)
If we replace the condition of L=w-7 we got:
![P=2(w-7)+2w=2w-14+2w=4w-14](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/cyde8kjbt126fpjpbl8mt9l9g5hpxvw36t.png)
Since we know the value of the perimeter we have:
![78=4w-14](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/mssujtki0fe1p0le7b1yd551wsz87zg8f6.png)
And we can solve for w and we got:
![w=(78+14)/(4)=23ft](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/tfob65gcsuydubs8bffdzy5daizh7y6p00.png)
And the final answer for this case would be width =23ft