SOLUTION: Suppose that the width of a rectangle is three times less than two thirds of its length. The perimeter of the rectangle is one hundred and forty four centimetres. Find the length a

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Question 1179244: Suppose that the width of a rectangle is three times less than two thirds of its length. The perimeter of the rectangle is one hundred and forty four centimetres. Find the length and width

Found 2 solutions by ikleyn, greenestamps:
Answer by ikleyn(52781)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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In Math problems written in English, they NEVER say   " . . . three times less than . . . "

They ALWAYS use another form/forms.

The form " . . . three times less than . . . " is considered as defective, when they formulate Math problems in English.

        ( In distinction from many other languages,
        where this form is considered as NORMAL
        and does not create any trouble/misunderstanding ).

Answer by greenestamps(13200)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Here is the grammatically correct interpretation of the nonsensical statement "the width of a rectangle is three times less than two thirds of its length".

Let x be the length; then "three times less than two thirds of its length" means "two thirds of x, minus 3 times x":

Assuming the length x is a positive number, we now have a width that is a negative number. Obviously that is nonsense.

Unfortunately, similar phrases are used frequently:
"Our product costs five times less to use than our competitor's product"
"The number of items in stock is three times less than it was a week ago"

One can only guess what the true numbers are, because the phrases do not make any sense.