In the following problem, fill in the blanks with the appropriate numbers. You are pretending you are translating a Babylonian area problem like those described in the text. The problem to be solved is as follows:
Length plus width is 48. Length times width is 495. What is the length and the width?
Translation:
Take half the sum of the length and width, which is .
Square to get .
Subtract the area to get .
Take the square root to get .
The length is half the sum plus the square root. Length is .
The width is half the sum minus the square root. Width is .
Length plus width is 48. Length times width is 495. What is the length and the width?
Translation:
Take half the sum of the length and width, which is .
Square to get .
Subtract the area to get .
Take the square root to get .
The length is half the sum plus the square root. Length is .
The width is half the sum minus the square root. Width is .