Question

Dr. Christine, a veterinarian, wants to create an area behind her office for dogs to exercise. She only has 130 ft of fencing and wants to use it all. She isn't sure what to make the width of the fenced area, but knows that she wants the length to be exactly 15 feet longer than the width. What should she make the width of the exercise area? (Write an equation, don't need to solve it.)

Answer 1

Dr. Christine can find the width of the dog exercise area by setting up the equation 130 = 2w + 2(w + 15), where w is the width and w + 15 is the length, using the 130 feet of fencing available for the perimeter.

Step-by-step explanation:

Dr. Christine wants to create an exercise area for dogs and has 130 feet of fencing to use, with the length being 15 feet longer than the width. To write an equation for the width of the exercise area, let's represent the width as w feet. Since the length is 15 feet longer than the width, the length will be w + 15 feet.

We know the perimeter of a rectangle is calculated by adding together twice the width and twice the length. Given that we have 130 feet of fencing to work with, we can set up the following equation for the perimeter (P): P = 2w + 2(w + 15). Substituting 130 feet for P gives us the equation we need to solve for w: 130 = 2w + 2(w + 15).