Tarek has 72 feet of plastic fencing to make a flower garden in his backyard. The garden shape can either be circular or square.

Question

If he uses all of the fencing, what is the difference between the area of the circular garden and the square garden? Use 3.14 for π. Round to the nearest hundredth if necessary.

Answer 1

dπ=72

d=22.918.......

r^2π=412.59......sq/ft

72/4=18.....

^2=324sq/ft

Answer 2

Fencing would be put on the border of the garden: the perimeter.

We need to figure out the dimensions of the circle and square based on the given info, and then can compute the area for each.

For the circle:

72 = 3.14*2*r (circumference of circle) r = 11.46

The area= pi * 11.46² = 412.75 square feet

For the square:

Perimeter: 72 = 4s (where s is the length of each side)

s= 18

The area = 18² = 324 square feet

Subtracting the two = 88.75 square feet