Question

The width of a rectangle is 32 inches shorter than twice its length. The area of the rectangle is 72 square inches. What is the length of the rectangle?

Answer 1

18 inches

Explanation:

Equation is (2x-32)(x)=72, where x represents length and (2x-32) represents the width. When you simplify the equation, it ends up as 2x^2-32x-72=0. After factoring, you get 2(x-18)(x+2). Since x cannot be negative, it would therefore be 18. If you plug it back into the equation, you can see that it is right :)