Checking my son's homework and want to see if he figured this out correctly .. i am too old to be revisiting this math ... Here is the question ... The perimeter of a rectangle patio is six times the length of the shorter side. If the shorter side is 8 feet, what is the length of the longer side?
He multiplied 6 X 8 to get 48 .. is that correct?
Thanks a million in advance!
Yes.
4
6
x8
48
Mom,
You are never too old to re-visit maths. Many of my students studying undergraduate maths and chemistry are 35+.
Yes, your son's calculation is correct. To determine the length of the longer side of the rectangle, we first need to understand the given information. The problem states that the perimeter of the rectangle patio is six times the length of the shorter side, which is 8 feet.
The perimeter of a rectangle is the sum of all its sides. In this case, since there are two equal shorter sides and two equal longer sides, we can represent the perimeter as follows:
Perimeter = 2 * (Length of Shorter Side) + 2 * (Length of Longer Side)
Since we know that the perimeter is six times the length of the shorter side, we can substitute the values into the equation:
6 * (Length of Shorter Side) = 2 * (Length of Shorter Side) + 2 * (Length of Longer Side)
Now, we can solve for the length of the longer side:
6 * 8 = 2 * 8 + 2 * (Length of Longer Side)
48 = 16 + 2 * (Length of Longer Side)
48 - 16 = 2 * (Length of Longer Side)
32 = 2 * (Length of Longer Side)
Dividing both sides by 2:
32 / 2 = (Length of Longer Side)
16 = (Length of Longer Side)
Therefore, the length of the longer side of the rectangle patio is 16 feet. Your son's answer of 48 is incorrect; he mistakenly multiplied the shorter side by 6 instead of dividing 48 by 6 to find the longer side.