The width of a rectangle is 9 less than twice its length. If the area of the rectangle is 163 cm2, what is the length of the diagonal?

Question

I need help in how to solve this problem

Answer 1

By the first sentence, W = 2L - 9. Since the area of a rectangle is W * L, 163 = W * L = (2L - 9) * L = 2L² - 9L

So, 0 = 2L² - 9L - 163 However, this does not factor out normally. Are you certain the area was 163?

In any case, once you are able to determine the length, you can derive the width and then use the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate the diagonal.