Jenay L.

asked • 09/18/18

Algebraic word problem I think?

A tennis court is surrounded by a fence so that the distance from each boundary of the tennis court is the same. If the tennis court is 78 feet wide and 36 feet long, what is the area of the entire surface inside the fence?

Lauren H.

The area of the tennis court is 78 x 36 = 2808 sq ft.  But, since you give no dimensions for the distance from the edge of the court to the fence, it could feasibly be anything.  Let's say it's 10 ft.  Then 78 + 20 = 98 and 36 + 20 = 56, so the area would be 56 x 98 = 5488.  But, what is the distance from the court to the fence is 5?  Then, you'd get a different answer.
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09/18/18

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Robbie C. answered • 09/18/18

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It would help to draw a picture. You have a tennis court that is 78 feet wide and 36 feet long, or a rectangle with side lengths of 78 and 36. There is a boundary around the court, and the distance from each side of the boundary to the closest side of the fence is the same all around. We can call this distance d. Then the side lengths of the entire area within the fence are 78+2d (the distance is on both sides of the court) and 36+2d. The area is the product of these two factors. Since we are not given the distance, that is as much as you can do. You will have the area in terms of the distance.
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