Question

A'leila is building a pen for her pet donkey. The pen is a rectangle with one side measuring b yards and the adjacent side measuring

a yards. Write two different expressions giving the perimeter of the donkey’s pen.

Answer 1

To calculate the perimeter of A'leila's rectangle-shaped pen with sides a and b, two different expressions can be used: P = 2a + 2b, or P = a + a + b + b.

Step-by-step explanation:

A'leila is building a rectangle-shaped pen for her pet donkey with sides measuring b yards and a yards. To calculate the perimeter of a rectangle, you need to add up the lengths of all four sides. Since opposite sides of a rectangle are equal in length, two sides will each measure a yards and the other two will each measure b yards.

The first expression for the perimeter is P = 2a + 2b, which comes from the formula for the perimeter of a rectangle: P = 2(length + width). In this case, a represents the length and b represents the width.

The second expression for the perimeter could be written as P = a + a + b + b, which literally adds the length of each side individually.

Answer 2

The perimeter of A'leila's rectangular donkey pen can be calculated using the formula P = 2(a + b) or by directly adding the lengths of all sides, P = a + b + a + b.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the perimeter of A'leila's rectangular donkey pen with sides 'a' yards and 'b' yards, we use the formula P = 2(a + b) where 'P' represents the perimeter. By multiplying the sum of the lengths of adjacent sides by 2, we find the total distance around the pen.

Alternatively, we can also express the perimeter as P = a + b + a + b, directly adding the length of each side of the rectangle.