SOLUTION: please help me solve this i've been trying forever. the width of a rectangle is 3 cm less than the length. if the diagonal of the rectangle is 20 cm., find the width and lengt

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Question 195142: please help me solve this i've been trying forever.
the width of a rectangle is 3 cm less than the length. if the diagonal of the rectangle is 20 cm., find the width and length to the nearest hundredth.
thanks.
Found 2 solutions by Alan3354, solver91311:
Answer by Alan3354(69443) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
please help me solve this i've been trying forever.
the width of a rectangle is 3 cm less than the length. if the diagonal of the rectangle is 20 cm., find the width and length to the nearest hundredth.
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l = w+3
(((l^2 + w^2 = 20^2}}}
%28w%2B3%29%5E2+%2B+w%5E2+=+400
Can you take it from there? email me via the thank you note for help, or to check you answer.

Answer by solver91311(24713) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Let x represent the width, then x + 3 represents the length, in other words the two legs of the right triangle formed by the diagonal.

So:







Solve the quadratic using the quadratic formula. Discard the negative root because we are looking for a positive measure of length. The positive root will be the width. Add 3 to get the length. Remember to round to 2 places.

John