SOLUTION: The width of a rectangle is 55 cm less than three times its length. The area of the rectangle is 100 cm^2. Find the dimensions of the rectangle.

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Question 378637: The width of a rectangle is 55 cm less than three times its length. The area of the rectangle is 100 cm^2. Find the dimensions of the rectangle.
Answer by richard1234(7193) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Suppose the length of the rectangle is x cm. Then the width is 3x - 55.
Now, we have
x%283x+-+55%29+=+100
3x%5E2+-+55x+-+100+=+0
Luckily, this factors to (3x + 5)(x - 20) = 0, so either x = -5/3 or x = 20. We take the positive value, so the length is 20 and the width is 5.