document.write( "<A HREF=/cgi-bin/jump-to-question.mpl?question=466723>Question 466723</A>: <I><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> The width of rectangle is 5ft less than the length. the area is 6ft^2, what is width and length? </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</I><HR><TABLE width=100%><TR><TD><B><A HREF=http://www.algebra.com/>Algebra.Com's</A> Answer #321015 by </B><A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=gwendolyn><B>gwendolyn(128)</B></A><img src=\"/images/stars/stars-09.gif\" alt=\"\" >&nbsp;<A HREF=/tutors/aboutme.mpl?userid=gwendolyn><IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/images/aboutme-small.gif BORDER=0 alt=\"About Me\" VALIGN=MIDDLE></A>&nbsp;<IMG SRC=http://www.algebra.com/cgi-bin/show-face.mpl?user=gwendolyn><BR>You can <A HREF=\"/cgi-bin/embed-solution.mpl?show=1&solution=321015\">put this solution on YOUR website!</A><BR><SPAN STYLE=\"word-break: break-all;\"> We have two variables in this equation, width and length. We'll say that L=length and W=width.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "The first piece of information we have is that the width is equal to the length minus 5 feet. This can be turned into an equation:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "W=L-5<BR>\n" );
document.write( "The other information we are provided is that the rectangle's area, which is equal to length times width, is 6 square feet. This too can be made into an equation:<BR>\n" );
document.write( "L*W=6<BR>\n" );
document.write( "We can plug the first equation into the second, since we have the variable 'W' isolated already.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "L*(L-5)=6<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Then, we can distribute the L.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=L%5E2-5L=6 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"L%5E2-5L=6\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
document.write( "Subtract 6 from both sides.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "<IMG STYLE=\"max-width:80%;\" SRC=/cgi-bin/plot-formula.mpl?expression=L%5E2-5L-6=0 ALIGN=MIDDLE  ALT=\"L%5E2-5L-6=0\"   DISABLED_style= \"max-width:90%; height:auto;\" ><BR>\n" );
document.write( "We can now factor this quadratic equation.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "(L-6)(L+1)=0<BR>\n" );
document.write( "This means that L is equal to either 6 or -1. Since L is a length, it has to be the positive option, so L=6.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "We can now plug this value into the first equation to find the width.<BR>\n" );
document.write( "6-5=W<BR>\n" );
document.write( "1=W<BR>\n" );
document.write( "Therefore, the width is 1 and the length is 6. </SPAN>\n" );
document.write( "</TD></TR></TABLE>\n" );