document.write( "Question 79830: I am not sure what category this problem should be under, please help!\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Hazel has a screen door whose height is 4 feet more than its width. She wishes to stabilize the door by attaching a steel cable diagonally. If the cable measures √194/2 ft, what are the dimensions of the door?
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Algebra.Com's Answer #57283 by bucky(2189)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Your problem tells you that the height (H) of rectangular screen door is 4 feet more than
\n" ); document.write( "its width (W). In equation form this becomes:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"H+=+W+%2B+4\"
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\n" ); document.write( "The problem also tells you that the diagonal (D) of this rectangular door is:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"D+=+sqrt%28194%29%2F2\"
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\n" ); document.write( "and (calculator time) the square root of 194 is 13.92838828. Divide this by 2 and you
\n" ); document.write( "find that the diagonal of the door (in feet) is:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"D+=+6.964194139\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Now you can apply the Pythagorean theorem which says that for a right triangle (formed
\n" ); document.write( "by the height, the width, and the diagonal of the door), the sum of the squares of each
\n" ); document.write( "of the legs of the triangle equals the square of the diagonal. For this problem you can
\n" ); document.write( "write the equation that:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"H%5E2+%2B+W%5E2+=+D%5E2\"
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\n" ); document.write( "But from your first steps on this problem you know that H = W + 4, so you can substitute
\n" ); document.write( "W + 4 for H and the equation becomes:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"%28W%2B4%29%5E2+%2B+W%5E2+=+D%5E2\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Square the (W + 4) term on the left and the equation becomes:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"%28W%5E2+%2B+8W+%2B+16%29+%2B+W%5E2+=+D%5E2\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Combine the two \"W%5E2\" terms on the left side and the equation becomes:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"2W%5E2+%2B+8W+%2B+16+=+D%5E2\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Next recall that earlier you found that the diagonal D was 6.964194139 feet. Square this
\n" ); document.write( "and you get that:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"D%5E2+=+%286.964194139%29%5E2+=+48.5\"
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\n" ); document.write( "In the quadratic equation substitute 48.5 for \"D%5E2\" and the equation becomes:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"2W%5E2+%2B+8W+%2B+16+=+48.5\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Get this into standard quadratic form by subtracting 48.5 from both sides. The result is:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"2W%5E2+%2B+8W+-+32.5+=+0\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Although you do not need to do this next step, you can make the problem a little easier
\n" ); document.write( "by dividing both sides by 2 just to eliminate the 2 that multiplies the \"W%5E2\" term.
\n" ); document.write( "When you do that division the quadratic equation becomes:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"W%5E2+%2B+4W+-+16.25+=+0\"
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\n" ); document.write( "Now you can apply the quadratic formula to solve this equation. The quadratic formula
\n" ); document.write( "says that for a quadratic equation of the form:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"ax%5E2+%2B+bx+%2B+c+=+0\"
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\n" ); document.write( "the two solutions will be:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"x+=+%28-b+%2B-+sqrt%28+b%5E2-4%2Aa%2Ac+%29%29%2F%282%2Aa%29+\"
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\n" ); document.write( "By comparing your equation with the standard form you see that the corresponding factors
\n" ); document.write( "are: x = W, a = +1, b = +4, and c = -16.25
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\n" ); document.write( "Substitute these values into the solution equation and you get:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"W+=+%28-%28%2B4%29+%2B-+sqrt%28+4%5E2-4%2A1%2A%28-16.25%29+%29%29%2F%282%2A1%29+\"
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\n" ); document.write( "This simplifies to:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"W+=+%28-4+%2B-+sqrt%2816+%2B+65%29%29%2F2\"
\n" ); document.write( ".
\n" ); document.write( "The term in the radical is 81 and its square root is 9. This simplifies your equation
\n" ); document.write( "to:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"W+=+%28-4+%2B-+9%29%2F2+\"
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\n" ); document.write( "This means your possible solutions are:
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\n" ); document.write( "\"W+=+%28-4-9%29%2F2+=+-13%2F2+=+-6.5\" and \"W+=+%28-4%2B9%29%2F2=+5%2F2+=+2.5\"
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\n" ); document.write( "You can ignore the first solution because it is negative and having a negative width
\n" ); document.write( "for a screen door doesn't make sense. The second solution means that the width of the
\n" ); document.write( "door is 2.5 feet (or 30 inches). A little narrow by today's standard construction
\n" ); document.write( "but a reasonable answer. The height is 4 feet more than that (from your work at the
\n" ); document.write( "start of the problem) and that means the door is 2.5 + 4 = 6.5 feet (78 inches) tall.
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\n" ); document.write( "Hope this helps you to understand the problem.
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