A hole in the side of a large metal tank needs to be repaired. A piece of rectangular sheet metal of area $143 \mathrm { ft } ^ { 2 }$ will patch the hole. If the length of the sheet metal must be $2$ ft longer than its width what will the dimensions of the sheet metal be?
A) The width is 44 ft,
The length is 3.25 ft.
B) The width is 11 ft,
The length is 13 ft.
C) The width is 13 ft,
The length is 11 ft.
D) The width is 11 ft,
The length is 11 ft.
E) The width is 13 ft,
The length is 13 ft.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Let the width of the sheet metal be $x$ ft. Then, the length of the sheet metal is $x + 2$ ft. Therefore, we can set up the equation $x(x+2) = 143$. Solving for $x$, we get $x = 11$ or $x = -13$. Since we are dealing with lengths, we discard the negative solution. Thus, the width of the sheet metal is $11$ ft and the length is $11+2 = 13$ ft.

A Hole in the Side of a Large Metal Tank 143ft2143 \mathrm { ft } ^ { 2 }143ft2

A Hole in the Side of a Large Metal Tank $143 \mathrm { ft } ^ { 2 }$