SOLUTION: The width of the Bergstroms' dining room table is three feet shorter than the length. If the area of the tabletop is 28 square feet, how long is the table?

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Question 1117140: The width of the Bergstroms' dining room table is three feet shorter than the length. If the area of the tabletop is 28 square feet, how long is the table?

Found 2 solutions by greenestamps, Shin123:
Answer by greenestamps(13198) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

The area of a rectangle is length times width. What two numbers do you know whose difference is 3 and whose product is 28?

7*4 = 28; the table is 7 feet long and 4 feet wide.

Algebra doesn't make the problem any easier....

let x = width
then x+3 = length

The area (length times width) is 28:

To solve that quadratic equation, you need to find two numbers whose difference is 3 and whose product is 28....

But that's what we did in the first place.

Of course it is good to know how to solve problems like this using algebra. And solving simple examples like this is good practice in setting up problems for solving them algebraically.

But if an algebraic solution is not required, common sense and a little mental arithmetic gets you to the answer much faster.

Answer by Shin123(626) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
You have to find 2 numbers that the difference is 3 and the product is 28.

��>Length: 7 ft. Width: 4 ft.