The length of a rectangle is one more than four times its width. if the perimeter of the rectangle is 62 meters, how do you find the dimensions of the rectangle?

1 Answer
Jan 8, 2017

See full process for how to solve this problem below in the Explanation:

Explanation:

First, let's define the length of the rectangle as l and the width of the rectangle as w.

Next, we can write the relationship between the length and width as:

l = 4w + 1

We also know the formula for the perimeter of a rectangle is:
p = 2l + 2w

Where:

p is the perimeter
l is the length
w is the width

We can now substitute color(red)(4w + 1) for l in this equation and 62 for p and solve for w:

62 = 2(color(red)(4w + 1)) + 2w

62 = 8w + 2 + 2w

62 = 8w + 2w + 2

62 = 10w + 2

62 - color(red)(2) = 10w + 2 - color(red)(2)

60 = 10w + 0

60 = 10w

60/color(red)(10) = (10w)/color(red)(10)

6 = (color(red)(cancel(color(black)(10)))w)/cancel(color(red)(10))

6 = or w = 6

We can now substitute w into our formula for the relationship between l and w and calculate l:

l = (4 xx 6) + 1

l = 24 + 1

l =25

The length of the rectangle is 25 meters and the width of the rectangle is 6 meters.