Consuelo's living room is in the shape of a rectangle and has an area of 360 square feet. the width of the living room is 5/8 its length. what is the length of the living room?

24 feet

Let length = x. because width is 5/8 the length, let width equal 5/8x.
Area equals length times width. Therefore, area equals:

times "x" = 

this equals = , because x times x is 

Then multiply both sides by 8 to get rid of the fraction.

=

Divide both sides by 5 to get  by itself.



Take the square of both sides to get x by itself.



x = 24ft

You can check your answer by plugging in 24ft into your original equation.

times (24ft) =

 times 24 =

15ft times 24ft =

=