SOLUTION: A rectangular parking lot has a length that is 3 yards greater than the width. The area of the parking lot is 180 yeards. What is the length and width of the parking lot

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Question 215233: A rectangular parking lot has a length that is 3 yards greater than the width. The area of the parking lot is 180 yeards. What is the length and width of the parking lot
Answer by drj(1380)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A rectangular parking lot has a length that is 3 yards greater than the width. The area of the parking lot is 180 yeards. What is the length and width of the parking lot.

Step 1. Let w be the width and w+3 is the length

Step 2. Let Area or
where where x=12 and x=-15.

Step 3. We can now also use the quadratic formula given as



where a=1, b=3 and c=-180.

Also, please ignore the graph since the scaling is not properly set.

Solved by pluggable solver: SOLVE quadratic equation with variable
Quadratic equation (in our case ) has the following solutons:



For these solutions to exist, the discriminant should not be a negative number.

First, we need to compute the discriminant : .

Discriminant d=729 is greater than zero. That means that there are two solutions: .




Quadratic expression can be factored:

Again, the answer is: 12, -15. Here's your graph:



Select x=12 for positive lengths. Then x+3=15

Step 4. ANSWER. The dimensions are 12 for the width and 15 for the length of the parking lot.

I hope the above steps were helpful.

For free Step-By-Step Videos on Introduction to Algebra, please visit http://www.FreedomUniversity.TV/courses/IntroAlgebra or for Trigonometry visit http://www.FreedomUniversity.TV/courses/Trigonometry.

And good luck in your studies!

Respectfully,
Dr J
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