SOLUTION: what are original dimensions- The length of a rectangle is three times its width. If the width were increased by 4 and the length remained the same, the resulting rectangle would h

Question 305672: what are original dimensions- The length of a rectangle is three times its width. If the width were increased by 4 and the length remained the same, the resulting rectangle would have an area of 231 square inches. Find the demensions of the ORIGINAL rectangle.

Answer by mananth(16946) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
what are original dimensions- The length of a rectangle is three times its width. If the width were increased by 4 and the length remained the same, the resulting rectangle would have an area of 231 square inches. Find the demensions of the ORIGINAL rectangle.

let the width be x
length will be 3x
width increased by 4 = x+4

Length = 3x
3x(x+4)= 231
3x^2 + 12x =231
3x^2 +12x-231=0
3(x^2+4x-77) =0
3(x+11)(x-7)=0
x=-11 OR x =7
the width cannot be negative
so width = 7
length = 3x = 3*7 =21
7 by 21 are the dimensions of the original rectangle
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