The length of a rectangle is 5mm longer than it's width. The area is 24mm squared. What is the width of the rectangle?

Question

How do I solve this problem?

Answer 1

Use the formula

length x width = area

For length you must use (w + 5) since "length is 5 longer than width"

Now fill in the information you have:

(w+5)(w) = 24

w² + 5w = 24

Set it equal to 0 so that you can factor; to do this, subtract 24 from each side

w² + 5w - 24 = 0

Factor

(w +8)(w-3) = 0

Find the zeros/roots

w+8=0 or w-3=0

so w=-8 or w=3

Distance (such as length or width) cannot be negative.

Therefore, w=3

(By the way, the length is 8 since it is 5 more than the width).