The area of a rectangular room is 238 square feet. The width is 3 feet less than the length. Find the dimension of the room.

The length is 17 feet and the width is 14 feet.

Let l be length and w be width.

w = l - 3 and A = lw

Thus

238 = l * (l-3)

When you solve for L, you get 17 and - 14. Because you can't have a negative number as a distance, the answer has to be 17.

Plug in 17 into w = l - 3 and you get w = 14