SOLUTION: One side of a rectangle is 3 inches shorter than the other side, and the perimeter is 54 inches. what are the dimension of the rectangle?

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Question 175046: One side of a rectangle is 3 inches shorter than the other side, and the perimeter is 54 inches. what are the dimension of the rectangle?
Answer by actuary(112) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let l be the length of the rectangle
Let w be the width of the rectangle.
From the description of the problem we can write the following equations:
l=w-3 (Equation #1)
2l + 2w = 54 (Equation #2)
Substitute equation #1 into Equation #2 and simplifify
2*(w-3)+2*w=54
2w-6+2w = 54
4w = 60
Solve for w
w = 60/4 = 15
Substitute w = 15 into Equation #2 to solve for l
2*l + 2(15) = 54
2*l + 30 = 54
2*l = 54-30 = 24
l = 12
Also, w-l =15-12=3 (agrees with equation #1)
I hope that this helps.