Area question algebra

[mykenziem]

"A rectangular field measures 10m by 18m. The city is building a stone walkway of uniform width around the field. the area of the walkway is one third of the area of the field. How wide is the walkway?"

Idk the equation, im getting decimal answers
I did 60=(x-10)(x-18) but idk if that's right

 

[Deleted member 4993]

"A rectangular field measures 10m by 18m. The city is building a stone walkway of uniform width around the field. the area of the walkway is one third of the area of the field. How wide is the walkway?"

Idk the equation, im getting decimal answers
I did 60=(x-10)(x-18) but idk if that's right

What is "x" in your equation?

Sketch the problem and it will be lot easier to derive the equation.

 

[HallsofIvy]

"A rectangular field measures 10m by 18m. The city is building a stone walkway of uniform width around the field. the area of the walkway is one third of the area of the field. How wide is the walkway?"

Idk the equation, im getting decimal answers
I did 60=(x-10)(x-18) but idk if that's right

"60= (x-10)(x-18) makes no sense if you don't say what x represents! Assuming that x is the width of the walkway, it still doesn't make sense to subtract 10 and 18 from it nor to multiply them!

Let x be the width of the walkway in meters. Two sides of the field are 18 m long so the area of the walkway along those sides is 2(18)x= 36x. The other two sides have length 10 m but the x m on each end are already calculated so the length of the walkway on those sides is 10- 2x. The area is 2(10- 2x)x= 20x- 4x^2. The total area is the sum of those and is equal to 60 square meters. 56x- 4x^2= 60.