Question

The perimeter of a rectangle is 36 feet. The length is 2 less than 3 times the width. What is the length? What is the width?

Answer 1

Automatically, you can rule out 13 and above, as they are way too large. 12 can be ruled out too, because 12•3-2=34, and 12+34 is above 36. What if the length is 10? 10+2=12, 12÷3=4. 10+4 is too low. If the width is 8, 8•3=24, 24+8=32. So close!!! Let's bump it up to 9. 9•3=27, 27-2=25. 25+9=34. Just one more! If the width is 10, 10•3=30, 30-2=28, 28+10=38. 9.5 should work. 9.5•3=28.5. 28.5-2=26.5. 26.5+9.5=36. There's your answer! The width is 9.5 and the length is 26.5.