One more rectangular-shaped piece of metal siding needs to be cut to cover the exterior of a pole barn. The area of the piece is 30 ft². The length is 1 less than 3 times the width. How wide should the metal piece be? Round to the nearest hundredth of a foot.

Question

(1 point)
Responses

3.33 ft
3.33 ft

4.3 ft
4.3 ft

1 ft
1 ft

30 ft

Answer 1

The width of the metal piece should be 3.33 ft.

Let the width be x, then the length is (3x-1).

Given that area = length x width = 30 ft²

x(3x-1) = 30
3x² - x - 30 = 0
(3x + 9)(x - 3) = 0
x = 3.33 ft

Therefore, the width should be 3.33 ft.