Question 322759: You have a rectangular space in your yard that you want to put a border around. You find that 60 feet of border material is needed. The length of the rectangle is exactly one-half the width. What are the dimensions of the space in your yard?
Answer by jessica43(140)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! To solve this problem you need to use the given information to write two equations and then solve.
First, you know that a rectangle has 4 sides with each of the opposite sides having the same length, and the total perimeter is 60 feet. So:
W+W+L+L = 60 (with W=width and L= length)
or 2W + 2L = 60
Secondly, we know that the length is exactly one-half the width, so:
L = 1/2W
Now you can plug the second equation into the first equation, replacing the L value:
2W + 2L = 60
2W + 2(1/2W) = 60
2W + W = 60
3W = 60
W = 20
Now plug this into the second equation to find the length:
L = 1/2W
L = 1/2(20)
L = 10
So the length of the rectangle is 10 feet and the width is 20 feet.
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