Find the lengths of the fencing on this word problem

Question

A man is building a rectangular garden along one side of his house with a picket fence on the other three sides of the garden. Find the dimensions of the largest garden that can be enclosed using 40 feet of fencing.

 

Shorter side?

Longer side?

Answer 1

the largest rectangle is always a square

40/4=10 feet on each side

one side is not needed because of the house

add the 10 feet not needed to the opposite side to get a side 20 feet long

the rectangle is 10 by 20 by 10 and the house

A=lw

A=20*10

A=200 square feet

notice the 10 by 20 rectangle is made up of two 10 by 10 squares