The surface area covered by a rectangular playground is 100 square yards. The width of the playground is 15 yards longer than its length. Using factors, find the length and the width of the playground.

Answer 1

Usually the "length" of a rectangle is greater than its "width", but anyway.....

let the length be x yds
then the width is x+15 yds

x(x+15) = 100
x^2 + 15x - 100 = 0
(x - 5)(x + 20) = 0
x = 5 or x = -20, the latter is not possible

the length is 5 and the width is 20 yards