Answers:
The areas from left to right are: 13 m^2, 49 m^2, 24 m^2, 14 m^2
The largest area occurs when the rectangle is a square
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Step-by-step explanation:
The area rectangle formula is base*height, or length*width, whichever you prefer.
From left to right, we have these areas:
- 1*13 = 13 m^2
- 7*7 = 49 m^2
- 12*2 = 24 m^2
- 5*9 = 14 m^2
We get the largest area (49 m^2) when the figure is a square. This happens with any problem in which we have a fixed amount of fencing and we want to max out the area. So it's not particular to this specific problem only.
Why a square? Well an informal way to think of it would be to consider that as one dimension goes up, the other goes down, and vice versa. Think of it like a see-saw. As the examples show, if one dimension is particularly large, then its area wont be as big compared to when the dimensions are closer together. It's only when all dimensions are equal is when we max the area out entirely.