The length of a rectangle is five inches less than twice the width. The perimeter is 26 inches. Find the length and width.

Answer 1

Let x = the width of the rectangle.

If the width is x, then that means the length will have to be the expression 2x - 5.

In a rectangle, you have two sides that are the length and two sides that are the width. Their sum is the perimeter.

Therefore, the equation that should be solved is 2(x) + 2(2x - 5) = 26. This equation shows that we are adding two sides that are the width and two sides that are the length and that their sum is 26.

After distributing, you get:

2x + 4x - 10 = 26

After combining like terms, you get:

6x - 10 = 26

After adding 10 to both sides, you get:

6x = 36

Then, divide both sides by 6 and you get:

x = 6

This means that the width is 6.

The length can be found by plugging 6 in for x in the expression 2x - 5.

Therefore, the length is 2(6) - 5 = 7.

You can check your answer by adding the two lengths and the two widths: 6 + 6 + 7 + 7 = 26