Question

A knitter wants to make a rug for a dollhouse. The length of the rug will be 2 inches more than it's width. The total area of the rug (in square inches ) based on the width W of the rug (in inches ) is given by A (w) = w (2+w) If the desired area of the rug is 15 square inches, what is the width of the rug, in inches ?

Answer 1

Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:

A knitter wants to make a rug for a dollhouse. The length of the rug will be 2 inches more than it's width. Let the width of the rug be represented by w. This means that the length of the rug will be w + 2

The total area of the rug (in square inches ) based on the width W of the rug (in inches ) is given by

A(w) = w (2+w)

If the desired area of the rug is 15 square inches,,the width will be determined by substituting 15 for A(w). It becomes

15 = w^2 + 2w

w^2 + 2w - 15 = 0

w^2 + 5w - 3w - 15 = 0

w(w+5) -3(w+5)

w - 3 = 0 or w+ 5 = 0

w = 3 or w = -5

w cannot be negative. So w = 3 inches