Question

A farmer is constructing a small fenced in area that can be describe with the ordered pairs (2,3), (2,8), (6,8), and (6,3). The units for both x and y are feet. Make a graph. The find the amount of fencing he will need.

Answer 1

We need to find the perimeter of the shape given by the coordinates. Let's start by drawing a Cartesian coordinate system and identifying the points. This will give us information about the geometric shape.

A Cartesian coordinate system is given in the photos below and the indicated points [(2,3), (2,8), (6,3) and (6,8)] are marked.

We can see that this shape is a rectangle. A rectangle is home to two sides of different lengths, long and short. To find the perimeter of a rectangle, we add the length of the long side and the length of the short side and multiply the result by
`2`. (Because a rectangle must have
`2` long sides and
`2` short sides).

The rectangle in the figure has a long side length of
`5` feet and a short side length of
`4` feet.

Perimeter:
`2(L+S) = 2(5+4)=18ft.`