The area of a rectangle is

50 yd2

, and the length of the rectangle is

5 yd

less than three times the width. Find the dimensions of the rectangle.

Area = length x width

length = 3 x width - 5

i. e. 50 = w (3w - 5)

3w^2 - 5w - 50 = 0

(3w + 10) (w - 5) = 0

w = - 10/3 or w = 5

but width cannot be negative, hence

width = 5 yd

Length = 3 x 5 - 5 = 15 - 5 = 10 yd