A rectangular pool has a width of 15 feet and a length of 20 feet. If there is a 2 feet wide walkway around the pool, find the area of the walkway.

Answer 1

15(20) = 300 ft^2 = area of the pool

(15+2(2))(20+2(2)) = 19(24) = 456 ft^2 = area of the pool plus the walkway

456-300 = area of pool+walkway - area of the pool = area of the walkway

= 156 square feet = area of the walkway

Answer 2

Draw the rectangular pool and add a 2 ft walkway. Let' say we orient the pool so that it is 15 feet left-to-right and 20 feet up-down. Now draw horizontal lines at the corners in order to make 2 sets of rectangular regions. The area of the regions (from your diagram will be 2x20x2 + 2x19x2.

You could also make2x2 squares at the corners: 2x15x2 + 2x20x2 + 4x2x2