Question

A 60 by 80-foot rectangular walk in a park surrounds a flower bed. If the walk is of uniform width and its area is equal to the area of the flower bed, how wide is the walk?

Answer 1

Answer: 17.14 ft

Explanation:

The area of the flower bed is 60 ft x 80 ft = 4800 ft²

The perimeter of the sidewalk that surrounds the flower bed is:

• 2(60 ft) + 2(80 ft)
• = 120 ft + 160 ft
• = 280 ft

The area of the sidewalk is:

• perimeter x width
• = 280w

area of sidewalk = area of flower bed

280w = 4800

`\text{w}=(4800)/(280)`

`=(120)/(7)`

≈ 17.14