Casey was building a rectangular pen for his pigs. He has 62 feet of fencing. The length of his pen is 9 feet longer that the width. Write an equation and solve to find the dimensions of the pen



Answer :

2(X+9)+2X = 62
2X+18+2X = 62
4X=44
X=11
For this problem we need to find what perimeter is equal to 62 feet. To find perimeter of a rectangle we do:
[tex]p=2w+2l[/tex]
where p = perimeter, w = width, and l = length
This problem says that the length is 9 feet longer than the width, so the length would be: 
[tex]w+9[/tex]
Now we know what the perimeter and length is, so we can put those into the equation above. This is what it will look like:
[tex]62=2w+2(w+9)[/tex]
and that will solve like so:
[tex]62=2w+2(w+9) \\ distribute \\ 62=2w+2w+18 \\ combine \\ 62=4w+18 \\ subtract \\ 44=4w \\ divide \\ w=11[/tex]

Now that we know the width we can plug it into our first equation to find the length:
[tex]62=2(11)+2l \\ distribute \\ 62=22+2l \\ subtract \\ 40=2l \\ divide \\ l=20[/tex]

Your width is 11 feet and your length is 20 feet.

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