The perimeter of a rectangular outdoor patio is 68 ft. The length is 4 ft greater than the width. What are the dimensions of the patio?

Question

The perimeter of a rectangular outdoor patio is 68 ft. The length is 4 ft greater than the width. What are the dimensions of the patio?

Answer 1

Let's let the width of the patio be represented by the variable w. Then we can write an expression for the length as: w + 4

Perimeter is defined as the sum of all the sides for a rectangle , so the following equation can be used to represent the perimeter of the patio: w + w + w + 4 + w + 4 = 68

Now combine like terms and use inverse operations to solve the equation:

w + w + w + 4 + w + 4 = 68

4w + 8 = 68

4w + 8 - 8 = 68 - 8

4w = 60

4w/4 = 60/4

w = 15 feet

The length of the patio will be w + 4 or 15 + 4 = 19 feet

To verify , the perimeter would be 15 + 15 + 19 + 19 = 68 feet