the plans for a shed

Question

the plans for a shed call for a rectangular floor with a perimeter of 336 ft. the length is three times the width. find the length and width.

 

the width is _ the length is _

Answer 1

w= width

L= length

L = 3w.

The perimeter is 336 ft and will be the total of the four sides:

 

w+w+3w+3w = 8w

 

8w = 336

w = 336/8 = 42 ft      so L = 3*42ft = 126 ft

 

check: 42 + 42 + 126 + 126 = 252 + 84 = 336ft.

Answer 2

This is simply an application problem of a system of equations in two variables, call them "L" and "W" for length and width respectively.  To begin setting up the system the first thing you should ask yourself is what is a perimeter and what do you know about length and width in relation to each other.  With that information you can construct the system of equations and the rest is simply algebra.

 

Zach