SOLUTION: The length of a rectangle is 1 cm longer than its width. If the diagonal of the rectangle is 4 cm, what are the dimensions (the length and the width) of the rectangle?

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Question 50826: The length of a rectangle is 1 cm longer than its width. If the diagonal of the rectangle is 4 cm, what are the dimensions (the length and the width) of the rectangle?
Answer by darq(90) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The length of a rectangle is 1 cm longer than its width. If the diagonal of the rectangle is 4 cm, what are the dimensions (the length and the width) of the rectangle?
so we will have to right triangles:
edges will have x and x+1 lenght
and their squares' sum will equal to the square of 4.
x%5E2%2Bx%5E2%2B2x%2B1=16
2x%5E2%2B2x%2B1=16
x%5E2%2Bx%2B%281%2F2%29=8
x%5E2%2Bx%2B%281%2F4%29=8-%281%2F4%29
%28x%2B%281%2F2%29%29%5E2=+%2831%2F4%29
x%2B%281%2F2%29=+sqrt%2831%29%2F2
x+=+%28sqrt%2831%29-1%29%2F2
this was the short edge
y=x%2B1
y+=++%28sqrt%2831%29%2B1%29%2F2
this is the long one