Question

The length of a room is 7 feet longer than the width. The perimeter of the room is 74 feet. Find the width of the room.

Answer 1

The expression for the width will be x and the length will be x+7, based on the given information. Now put this in an equation and solve to find the value of x:
x+(x+7)+x+(x+7)=74
4x+14=74
4x=60
x=15
The length is x+7, which is 15+7= 22 feet long

Answer 2

Let the expression for the width be x.
Let the expression for the length be x + 7.
Now let's put this into an equation.

74 = x + (x + 7) + x +  (x + 7)
74 = 4x + 14
Subtract 14 on both sides
 74 = 4x + 14
-14           -14
____________
    60 = 4x
Divide 4 on both sides.
x = 15.
The length is x + 7, which gives you 15 + 7, which equals 22 feet long.
So the length is 22 feet and the width is 15 feet.