Question

You have a rectangular garden that is 10 feet

wide and 15 feet long. You want to increase
the garden so that each side is twice as long
as they are now.

a. What will be the area of the
new garden?
b. Will the area of the new garden be
twice as large as it is now? Explain.

Answer 1

a. If you double both sides, you'll get a rectangle with dimensions 20 feet wide and 30 feet long, therefore the area will be 20 × 30 = 600 feet².

b. The area of the old rectangle was 10 × 15 = 150 feet², so no the area is not twice as large, it is 4 times as large. This is because if the area is base × height, then doubling both of these gets you (2 × base) × (2 × height) = 4 × (base × height).

I hope this helps!