Algebra 1

[diashagogan]

Car manufacturers have outdone themselves. They have discovered how to shrink a car to make parking easier. At the touch of a button, a car shrinks by 2 feet in width and 4 feet in length. The original car base is 24 square feet larger than that of the shrunken car. If the original car's length is twice the width, find the dimensions of both cars. Identify the unknowns carefully. Label the variable dimensions on the rectangles.

 

[Deleted member 4993]

Car manufacturers have outdone themselves. They have discovered how to shrink a car to make parking easier. At the touch of a button, a car shrinks by 2 feet in width and 4 feet in length. The original car base is 24 square feet larger than that of the shrunken car. If the original car's length is twice the width, find the dimensions of both cars. Identify the unknowns carefully. Label the variable dimensions on the rectangles.

Please share your work with us, indicating exactly where you are stuck - so that we may know where to begin to help you.

 

[mmm4444bot]

the original car's length is twice the width

If you choose symbol W to represent the original width (in feet), then 2W must represent the original length because that's what they say above.

State both of these definitions, on your paper.

What expression represents this rectangle's area? (Use the famous formula for the area of a rectangle.)

Next, if you subtract the given amounts from the respective sides, what's the expression for the reduced area?

Subtracting the latter area from the former equals 24 because that difference is given.

Now you have an equation to solve for W.

Please ask specific questions, in your reply.