Question

The length of a rectangular storage room is 3 feet longer than its width. if the area of the room is 40 square feet, find the width.

Answer 1

Answer:

Width of rectangular storage room= 5 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let x be the width of storage room.

We have been given that the length of a rectangular storage room is 3 feet longer than its width. So the length of storage room will be x+3.

We are also given that the area of the room is 40 square feet.

Since the area of a rectangle is length times width.

$\text{Area of rectangle}=\text{Length* Width}$

Let us substitute our given values in area formula.

$40=x*(x+3)$

Upon distributing x we will get,

$40=x^2+3x$

$x^2+3x-40=0$

Now let us factor out our quadratic equation using splitting the middle term.

$x^2+8x-5x-40=0$

$x(x+8)-5(x+8)=0$

$(x+8)(x-5)=0$

$x+8=0$ or $x-5=0$

$x=-8$ or $x=5$

Since width can not be negative, therefore, the width of rectangle will be 5 feet.

Let us verify our answer.

Length of rectangular storage room is 3 feet longer than its width. So length will be 5+3=8.

Given: Area=40 square feet.

5*8=40.

Hence, width of rectangular storage room is 5 feet.