The length of a rectangle is 5 less than twice it’s width. The perimeter is 26 meters. Find the dimensions of the rectangle.

Answer 1

Let's let w represent the width of the rectangle.

Since the length is 5 less than twice the width, we can write the following expression to represent the length: 2 w - 5

Recall that perimeter of a rectangle is the sum of the all four sides, so we can write the following to represent the perimeter: P = 2 times the length plus 2 times the width

Using the 26 meters and our expressions for length and width, we can write:

26 = 2w + 2 (2w - 5)

Use the distributive property, combining like terms, and inverse operations to determine w:

26 = 2 w + 4w - 10

26 = 6w -10

26 + 10 = 6w - 10 + 10

36 = 6w

36/6 =6w/6

6 meters = w

Then the length will be 2w - 5 OR 2 * 6 -5 =12 -5 OR 7 meters for the length.

To verify: P = 2w + 2l

26 = 2*6 + 2*7

26 = 12 + 14