Question

Marcus put a decorative chair rail around his office which is a rectangular room. He put trim around all sides of the wall but did not trim the doorway which is 30 inches wide. The length of the office is 54 inches more than its width and Marcus used a total of 62,5 feet of trim. He also wants to put new flooring down so she will need to know the area of his office. What are the length and width of his office?

Answer 1

First, we convert everything to inches and solve for the width, w:

$2w + 2(w + 54) - 30 = 750\\2w + 2w + 108 - 30 = 750\\4w = 612\\w = 153$

Then, solve for the length:

$l = w + 54\\l = 153 + 54\\l = 207$

Then, convert back to feet if necessary:

$w = 153/12 = 12.75\\l = 207/12 = 17.25$

You can calculate the area easily now (w * l)