Word Problem

marinewife

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Oct 3, 2010
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A farmer has 800 yards of fencing to enclose a rectangular pasture. Since one side of the pasture borders a river, that side does not need to be fenced. If the side perpendicular to the river must be twice as long as the side parallel to the river, what are the dimensions of the rectangular pasture?
 
Since the fence borders a river, it has three sides instead of four.

Let the side perp. have length W and the side parallel have length L.

Since we are told that W is twice L, then we have W=2L

The perimeter is then 2(2L)+L=800

Solve for L and the rest follows.

Sub into the area fomrula: A=LW.
 
Only 3 sides have to be fenced.
Let the parallel side to the river = l
then the side perpendicular to the river = 2l
The perimeter to be fenced = l + 2l + 2l = 5l
5l = 800
l = 800/5 = 160
Therefore the width = 160 yards
the length = 320 yards
 
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