document.write( "Question 79830: I am not sure what category this problem should be under, please help!\r
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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? \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #57283 by bucky(2189)![]() ![]() ![]() 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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "The problem also tells you that the diagonal (D) of this rectangular door is: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Square the (W + 4) term on the left and the equation becomes: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Combine the two \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "In the quadratic equation substitute 48.5 for \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Get this into standard quadratic form by subtracting 48.5 from both sides. The result is: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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 \n" ); document.write( "When you do that division the quadratic equation becomes: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "the two solutions will be: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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 \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Substitute these values into the solution equation and you get: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "This simplifies to: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \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: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "This means your possible solutions are: \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( ". \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. \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( "Hope this helps you to understand the problem. \n" ); document.write( ". \n" ); document.write( " |