A car fits onto a golden rectangle with a length of 12 ft. What is the cars width? Write your answer in simplified radical form and rounded to the nearest tenth of a foot.

2 answers

If you look up golden rectangle you will see that the ratio is 1.618 so just divide 12 by 1.618.
Your answer rounded would be 7.4
A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio:

phi = 1 / [ ( 1 + sqroot 5 ) / 2 ]

W = L * phi

W = 12 * 1 / [ ( 1 + sqroot 5 ) / 2 ] =

12 * 2 / ( 1 + sqroot 5 ) =

24 / ( 1 + sqroot 5 ) =

24 / ( 1 + 2.236068 ) =

24 / 3.236068 = 7.416408 ft

W = 7.4 ft rounded to the nearest tenth

Remark :

phi in equations mean greek letter phi