Hancock building dimensions

Question

The top of the John Hancock building in Chicago is a rectangle whose length is 60 ft more than the width. The perimeter is 520 ft. Find the width and the length of the rectangle. Find the area of the rectangle

Answer 1

Hello Veronica,

 

Lel's set up this problem

 

L = length of rectangle

W = width of rectangle

L = W + 60

 

P = perimeter of rectangle

P = 2L + 2W

P = 520

But since L = W + 60

then

P = 520 = 2(W+60) + 2W

We can solve this for W

520 = 2W + 120 + 2W    distribute

520 = 4W + 120             combine like terms

400 = 4W                       subtract 120 from both sides

100 = W                         divide both sides by 4

 

Since L = W + 60

L = 100 + 60 = 160

 

Now we need the area.  The area of a rectangle is length times width.

160 • 100 = 16,000 ft²