The perimeter of a rectangle is 72 m. The width of the rectangle is 16 m. What is the area of the rectangle?
P = 2L + 2W
72 = 2L + 32
40 = 2L
20 = L
A = 20 * 16
To find the area of a rectangle, we need to know both its length and width. In this case, we have been given the width of the rectangle, which is 16 m. However, we do not have the length.
To find the length, we can use the information that the perimeter of the rectangle is 72 m. The formula for the perimeter of a rectangle is given by:
Perimeter = 2 * (Length + Width)
Substituting the given values into the formula, we get:
72 = 2 * (Length + 16)
To solve for the length, we divide both sides of the equation by 2:
36 = Length + 16
Next, we isolate the Length term by subtracting 16 from both sides of the equation:
Length = 36 - 16
Simplifying:
Length = 20 m
Now that we have both the length and width of the rectangle, we can calculate its area. The formula for the area of a rectangle is:
Area = Length * Width
Plugging in the values we found:
Area = 20 * 16
= 320 m²
Therefore, the area of the rectangle is 320 square meters.