A rectangular garden is 40ft longer than its width. The total length of the fence that surrounds the garden is 1000ft. How wide is the garden?

Answer 1

This is a perimeter problem, so let's first recall the equation for finding the perimeter of a rectangle:

width + width + length + length = perimeter

Or you can say:

2w + 2l = perimeter

We know the perimeter is 1000ft, because the problem says, "the total length of the fence that surrounds the garden is 1000ft". So our updated equation is:

2w + 2l = 1000

Let's look at what else the problem tells us. It says that the rectangle garden is 40ft longer than it's width. That means that the length is 40ft more than the width. In other words:

Length = width + 40 or you can say: l = w + 40

So now we have two equations:

2w + 2l = 1000

l = w + 40

We can't solve 2w + 2l = 1000 because there are two different variables in it. BUT we can change the (l) to our other equation: (w + 40). Now our new equation is:

2w + 2(w + 40) = 1000

Now we can solve this:

2w + 2w + 80 = 1000

4w + 80 = 1000

4w = 920

w = 230

Answer 2

X+X+40+X+40+X=1000 Where X= Width and this equation is the perimeter of the fence.

4X+80=1000

4X=920

X=230

buahla!

:)