Problema Solution

Originally a rectangle was twice as long as it was wide. When 4 m were added to its length and 3 m subtracted from it's width, the resulting rectangle had an area of 600 m^2. Find the dimensions of the new rectangle.

Answer provided by our tutors

let


l = the length of the original rectangle, l>0


w = the width of the original rectangle, w>0


l + 4 = the length of the new rectangle


w - 3 = the width of the new rectangle, w - 3>0 or w>3


Originally a rectangle was twice as long as it was wide:


l = 2w


the resulting rectangle had an area of 600 m^2:


(l + 4)(w - 3) = 600


plug l = 2w into the last equations:


(2w + 4)(w - 3) = 600


by solving we find:


w = 18 m


w - 3 = 18 - 3 = 15 m


l = 2*18


l = 36 m


l + 4 = 36 + 4 = 40 m


the dimensions of the new rectangle are: the length is 40 m and the width is 15 m.