Problema Solution
The perimeter of a rectangle is 36 ft. The length is 10 ft longer than the width. Find the dimensions. Write a system of linear equations and solve the resulting system. Let x be the length and y be the width.
Answer provided by our tutors
let 'w' represent the width, then 'w+10' represents the length
perimeter = 2(length+width)
36 = 2(w+w+10)
36 = 2w+2w+20
36 = 4w+20
16=4w
w=4
4+10=14
the width is 4 ft, the length is 14 ft
if you want to solve this using a system of linear equations, then the system would look like this ('y' is width, 'x' is length):
x=y+10
36=2(x+y)
...substituting 'x' with 'y+10" in the second equation gives:
36=2(y+10+y)
y=4