Story problem

Question

The length of a rectangular lawn is 5 feet more than it's width. If the area of the lawn is 980 sq feet find the dimensions of the lawn. Round to nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

*** EDIT***

Hi Tiphany!

This problem cannot be worked out as written because it will not work out to any perfect number to give us the correct answer. The following information provides an example for if length were 5 times the width. You can use this same method for solving the many area problems you encounter.

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There will need to be one side that is set to the variable x. It would be simplest to name the width x because the length is 5 times that of the width (x) making the lengths value 5x (5 times width which is x). And we can now use the formula for area (L x W) to solve for x. 

L X W = 980 sq ft

(5x) x (x) = 980 sq ft

 

5x times x will be 5x^2

5x^2 = 980 sq ft

 

Divide both sides by 5 do isolate x^2

 

x^2 = 196

 

Take the square root of both sides to find x.

 

x = 14 ft.

 

Therefore we know the width is 14 ft and the length is 5 times that which is 70 ft.

You can go back and check your work by plugging the numbers back into the area equation:

 

14 ft. X 70 ft. = 980 sq ft. PROBLEM SOLVED!