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 30ft^2. 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.
3.33ft
4.3ft
1ft
30ft
The area of a rectangle is given by the formula A = length * width. In this case, the area is 30ft^2 and the length is 1 less than 3 times the width. So we have the equation:
30 = (3w-1)w
Expanding and rearranging the equation, we get:
3w^2 - w - 30 = 0
Now we can solve this quadratic equation by factoring, completing the square, or using the quadratic formula. By factoring, we get:
(3w + 10)(w - 3) = 0
This gives us w = -10/3 or w = 3. Since the width cannot be negative, the width of the metal piece should be 3ft.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
3ft