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The area of a rectangular living room is 264 square feet. The length of the room is 2 feet less than twice the width.

What is the width of the living room in feet?

User Jnewbery
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1 Answer

6 votes

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Answer:

12 ft

Explanation:

Let the width of the room be represented by w. Then the length is (2w-2), and the area is ...

A = LW

264 = (2w-2)w

132 = w² -w . . . . . . . divide by 2, eliminate parentheses

132.25 = w² -w +.25 . . . . . add (-1/2)² to complete the square

√132.25 = w -0.5 . . . . . take the square root

0.5 +11.5 = w = 12 . . . . . add 0.5; use the positive root

The width of the living room is 12 feet.

User Dmiters
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