Help please?

Question

the width of a rectangle is about 4 ft less than the length. the area is 5ft^2. find the length and the width in ft.

Answer 1

Let the length of the rectangle be l.

Let the width of the rectangle be w.

Width of the rectangle is 4ft less than the length.

Therefore w = l - 4.

Area = lw = 5

l (l - 4) = 5

l² - 4l = 5

l² - 4l - 5 = 0

l² - 5l + l - 5 = 0

l (l - 5) + 1(l - 5) = 0

(l - 5) (l + 1) = 0

l - 5 = 0 or l + 1 = 0

l = 5 or l = -1

Since there will not be negative length, the length of the rectangle will be 5ft.

Therefore width = 5 - 4 = 1ft.

Therefore length and width of the rectangle are 5ft and 1ft respectively.