Students in a summer art class paint a rectangular mural. The shorter side of the mural measures 5 yards. The longer side measures 3 yards longer than the shorter side. How many square yards is the mural's area?
Let's call the length of the longer side x yards.
Since the longer side is 3 yards longer than the shorter side, we can express the length of the longer side as x = 5 yards + 3 yards = 8 yards.
The area of a rectangle is calculated by multiplying the length by the width. In this case, the area of the mural is:
Area = Length x Width
Area = 5 yards x 8 yards
Area = 40 square yards
Therefore, the mural's area is 40 square yards.