Question

Vince has a rectangular rug in his room with an area of 10 ft the length of the rug is 18 inches longer than the width what could be the dimensions of the rug?

Answer 1

The length of the rug is 4 ft.

The width of the rug is 2.5 ft.

Explanation:

The area of the rug is 10 ft.

The length of the rug be l.

Let us convert the inches to feet.

Thus, $18 inches = 1.5 ft$

Thus, the length of the rug is $l=1.5+w$

Let the width of the rug be w.

Substituting these values in the formula of area of the rectangle, we get,

$A=length\times width$

$10=(1.5+w)(w)\\10=1.5w+w^2\\w^2+1.5w-10=0$

Solving the expression using the quadratic formula,

$w=\frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^{2}-4 a c}}{2 a}$

Substituting the values, we have,

$w=\frac{-15 \pm \sqrt{15^{2}-4 \cdot 10(-100)}}{2 \cdot 10}$

$w=\frac{-15 \pm \sqrt{4225}}{20}$

$w=\frac{-15 \pm 65}{2 0}$

Thus,

$w=\frac{-15 + 65}{2 0}\\w=\frac{50}{20} \\w=2.5$  and   $w=\frac{-15 - 65}{2 0}\\w=\frac{-80}{20} \\w=-4$

Since, the value of w cannot be negative, the value of w is 2.5ft

Thus, the width of the rug is 2.5ft

Substituting $w=2.5$ in $l=1.5+w$, we get,

$l=1.5+2.5\\l=4$

Thus, the length of the rug is 4 ft.