Question

What is the width of a rectangle whose area is 60 square inches and whose length is 5 inches?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

The formula for the area of a rectangle is:

`A = l xx w`

Substituting:

• `60"in"^2` for `A`

• `5"in"` for `l`

And solving for `w` gives:

`60"in"^2 = 5"in" xx w`

`(60"in"^2)/(color(red)(5)color(red)("in")) = (5"in" xx w)/(color(red)(5)color(red)("in"))`

`(60"in"^color(red)(cancel(color(black)(2))))/(color(red)(5)cancel(color(red)("in"))) = (color(red)(cancel(color(black)(5"in"))) xx w)/cancel(color(red)(5)color(red)("in"))`

`(60"in")/color(red)(5) = w`

`12"in" = w`

`w = 12"in"`

The width is 12 inches