Question

Margaret is planning a rectangular garden. Its length is 4 feet less than twice its width. Its area is 170ft^2. what are the dimensions of the garden?.

Answer 1

If you would like to know the dimensions of the garden, you can calculate this using the following steps:

length ... (2 * x - 4) feet
width ... x feet
area ... 170 ft^2

area = length * width
170 = (2 * x - 4) * x
170 = 2 * x * x - 4 * x
170 = 2 * x^2 - 4 * x
0 = 2 * x^2 - 4 * x - 170     /2
0 = x^2 - 2 * x - 85
1. x = 1 - sqrt(86) = -8.27
2. x = 1 + sqrt(86) = 10.27

length: 2 * x - 4 = 2 * 10.27 - 4 = 16.54 feet
width: x = 10.27 feet

The dimensions of the garden are 16.54 feet and 10.27 feet.