I would like to get a better understanding of equations

Question

I’m in 8th grade, stuck on math homework!!

The perimeter of a rectangle is 56 cm. The length is 2cm more than the width. WHAT IS THE WIDTH?

Then I have to draw a picture of it the square, then the equation, then solve.

please help?

Answer 1

Answer 2

Hi Olivia,

Draw a rectangle and label the length (L) and width (W). Perimeter is the sum of all of the sides

P= L + W + L + W or P = 2L + 2W

Let's set W = x since it is our unknown variable. The length is 2 cm longer than the width so we can say that L = x + 2

We know the perimeter is 56 cm.

So plugging these all into our original equation, we get:

P = 2L + 2W

56 = 2(x+2) + 2x

Now we can solve this equation for x.

56 = 2x + 4 + 2x (distribute 2 to both terms in parentheses)

52 = 4x (subtract 4 from both sides and combine like terms)

13 = x (divide both sides by 4)

So the width is 13cm and the length is 15cm.