Find the area of the dock

Question

Lisa is building a dock for her family. The dock is T-shaped with the following dimensions. The top section is 8 feet long and the bottom section is 20 feet long. Each section of the dock is 3 feet wide. How much wood will Lisa need to build the top of the dock?

 

Can someone please do this and guide me through the steps. I just cannot picture this scenario in my head, and I do not know what to measure. Please someone find the area, and show me how you got there.

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

A picture usually helps.  Let each X be one foot wide by one foot long (thus, one square foot).  The dock looks like this:

 

      XXXXXXXX

      XXXXXXXX

      XXXXXXXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

          XXX

  

Now, sometime questions are written to check whether you are reading them closely.  This one asks, "How much wood will Lisa need to build the top of the dock?"   That is 3 ft by 8 ft = 24 square feet   (you can count the X's).