Question

A city park commission received a donation of playground equipment from a parents' organization. The area of the playground needs to be 256 square yards for the children to use it safely. The playground will be rectangular. The city will pay to have soft pavement made of recycled tires installed in the playground. In the first plan, one side 8 yards longer than the other side. Which equations model the possible dimensions of the playground?

Answer 1

The area of the playground needs to be 256 square yards.

The playground will be rectangular.

The city will pay to have soft pavement made of recycled tires installed in the playground.

In the first plan, one side 8 yards longer than the other side.

Let the width of the park be = w

So, the other side will be =
`w+8`

So, the area can be found as :

`w(w+8)=256`

This equation will help to give the dimensions, related to area.

We can also solve this using quadratic formula.

`w^(2) +8w-256=0`

We get dimensions as : 12.49 yards and 20.49 yards.

Answer 2

The equations model would be:

x(x + 8) = 256