SOLUTION: Solve using the five-step problem-solving process. Show all steps necessary to arrive at your solution. A rectangular platform is 11 feet longer than it is wide. If the area of th

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Question 340370: Solve using the five-step problem-solving process. Show all steps necessary to arrive at your solution.
A rectangular platform is 11 feet longer than it is wide. If the area of the platform is 276 square feet, find the length and the width

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHO TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM? DO I MULITIPLY 275 X 11 TO GET THE LENGTH... PLEASE HELP!
Found 2 solutions by Fombitz, jrfrunner:
Answer by Fombitz(32388) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Define some variables first.
L-length
W-width
Turn the words into equations.
"11 feet longer than it is wide"
1.L=11%2BW
.
.
.
The area of a rectangle is,
A=L%2AW
2.L%2AW=276
Substitute using eq. 1,
%2811%2BW%29W=276
W%5E2%2B11W=276
W%5E2%2B11W-276=0
Factor,
%28W%2B23%29%28W-12%29=0
Two solutions but only the positive solution makes sense in this case.
W-12=0
highlight%28W=12%29ft
.
.
.
Then from eq. 1,
L=11%2B12
highlight%28L=23%29ft

Answer by jrfrunner(365) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
let l=length
let w=width
-
area of a rectangle =l*w
--
given
l=11+w
area=276
--
area=l*w
substitute l=11+w
276=%2811%2Bw%29%2Aw
276=11w%2Bw%5E2
0=w%5E2%2B11w-276
--
use quadratic equation to solve for w, using a=1,b=11,c=-276
w=%28-11-sqrt%2811%5E2-4%2A1%2A%28-276%29%29%29%2F%282%2A1%29=-23 or w=%28-11%2Bsqrt%2811%5E2-4%2A1%2A%28-276%29%29%29%2F%282%2A1%29=12
since we are looking for a measurement, the negative result is ignored
highlight_red%28w=12%29 and highlight_green%28l=11%2Bw=23%29