Question

The perimeter of a rectangle is 36 meters. If the length of the rectangle is 10 meters, what is the width (in meters)?

Answer 1

The formula for the perimeter \( P \) of a rectangle is given by:

\[
P = 2 \times (\text{length} + \text{width})
\]

In this case, the perimeter \( P \) is 36 meters and the length is 10 meters. We can plug in the known values into the formula:

\[
36 = 2 \times (10 + \text{width})
\]

Now, we can simplify the equation:

\[
36 = 20 + 2 \times \text{width}
\]

Next, we subtract 20 from both sides:

\[
36 - 20 = 2 \times \text{width}
\]
\[
16 = 2 \times \text{width}
\]

Now, we divide both sides by 2 to find the width:

\[
\text{width} = \frac{16}{2} = 8
\]

Therefore, the width of the rectangle is \( \boxed{8} \) meters.