A swimming pool is rectangular. its longer side is 4 feet longer than its shorter side, with an area of 192 square feet . what are the dimensions of the pool?

Question

simple algebra word problem. straight forward.

Answer 1

There are algebraic ways to do this, but the easiest thing to do is to think of the length and width as factor pairs of 192, since area = L x W. As soon as you find a pair where one is 4 more than the other, you're good:

 

1 x 192

2 x 96

3 x 64

4 x 48

6 x 32

8 x 24

12 x 16 ding! ding! ding!

 

So your dimensions SHOULD be 12 x 16. Check it to be sure:

 

12 x 16 = 192

16 - 12 = 4     check!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Matt in New York