Question

The perimeter of a rectangle is 56 inches. The length is 4 more than 3 times the width. What are the dimensions of the rectangle?

Write the system of equations that would be used to solve this problem.

Answer 1

Let the length be x and the width be y, then
2x + 2y = 56
x + y = 28 . . . (1)
x = 4 + 3y . . . (2)

Putting (2) into (1) gives
4 + 3y + y = 28
4y = 28 - 4 = 24
y = 24/4 = 6
x = 4 + 3(6) = 4 + 18 = 22

Therefore, length is 22 inches and width is 6 inches.