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A room has an area of 60 square meters and a perimeter of 32 meters. What are the length and width of the room?

asked
User ColinD
by
7.6k points

1 Answer

1 vote
Area is L*W = 60 m^2, so that L=(60 m^2)/W.

Perimeter is P = 2W + 2L, or P = 2W + 2[60 m^2]/W

Since we know that the perimeter is 32 meters, 2W + 120/W = 32 (meters)

Multiplying all terms by W: 2W^2 + 120 = 32W,
or

w^2 + 60 = 16w, or w^2 - 16w + 60 = 0.

Using the Quadratic Formula to find w:

-(-16) plus or minus sqrt(20)
w = -----------------------------------------
2
16 plus or minus 2sqrt(5)
= ------------------------------------
2

= 8 plus or minus sqrt(5). This produces 2 positive solutions. Since w represents width, discard any negative result. You may have to check twice, since you will have 2 different widths.
answered
User Grzes
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8.2k points

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