Question

A rectangular yard measuring 28 ft by 40 ft is bordered (and surrounded) by a fence. Inside, a walk that is 3 ft wide goes all the way along the fence. Find the area of this walk.

Answer 1

372 ft^2

Explanation:

First, questions like these are easiest if you can draw a picture for visual. If you can envision this yard, you can break it up into two rectangles. The whole outer rectangle, and the inner rectangle created by the walkway. By taking the area of the inner rectangle, and outer rectangle, and subtracting them from each other, you get the area between them, which is the walk way.

Steps:

1. Start by finding the area of the whole yard. 28 ft x 40 ft=1120 ft^2

2. Find the area of the inner rectangle. (28 ft- 6 ft) x (40 ft- 6 ft)=748 ft^2

You subtract each outer number by 6 feet because of the three feet on either side from the walk way.

3. Lastly, 1120 ft^2- 748 ft^2= 372 ft^2

Hope this helps!