Question

A rectangular carpet has a perimeter of 16m and area 15 m^2. Find the lengths of the carpets sides

Answer 1

Explanation

Since we're looking at a rectangle, let's consider its perimeter and area formulas.

Perimeter: 2x + 2y (A rectangle has four sides, with two equal sides, so this is x + x + y + y simplified)

Area: (x)(y) (length x breadth so, x times y)

So we have two equations: 2x + 2y = 16 and x*y = 15. Solve simultaneously. Refer to the attached image.

Answer 2

While guessing and checking is one way to do this problem, I will show you how to do it algebraically.

Let one side be A

Let the other side be B

2(A+B)=16

A*B=15

First equation because the perimeter is 16 and the second because the area is 15. Now solve the system of equations

A+B=8

A=8-B

Substitute into equation two

B(8-B)=15

-B^2+8b-15=0

B^2-8b+15=0

(B+3)(B+5)=0

B=3,5

A=5,3 respectively

From this we can see that one side is 5 meters long while the other side is three meters long.