dnorr said:
Your boss says that his wife has put an 18 × 51 foot garden in along the whole back end of their back yard. He says that this has reduced the back-yard lawn area by 24%. What are the total dimensions of his back yard? What are the dimensions of the remaining lawn area?
51 x 18 = 918
918 ÷ 24 = 3825
3825 ÷ 18 = 212
212 - 75 = 137 ft ???
Did you make a sketch? That might help you see what needs to be done.
The garden is along the "whole back end of their back yard." I take that to mean the yard was 51 feet wide ....
Now, the dimensions of the garden are 51 feet by 18 feet, which, as you've determined (I think...you haven't labeled or identified ANYTHING....) gives an area of 51 ft X 18 ft, or 918 ft^2.
This is 24% of the area of the entire yard. If we let x = area of entire yard, we know that
24% of x = 918
0.24*x = 918
Divide both sides of that equation by 0.24 to find the area of the entire yard.
Once you have the area of the entire yard, you can find the length of the original yard....because you know that the width is 51 feet, and the total area is length * width. And you'll have the dimensions of the original yard.
It should be easy, now, to find the dimensions of the remaining yard (remember, you removed 18 feet of the length to make the garden).
You've got a bunch of numbers there...with no identification as to what they represent. Some of them actually DO represent important numbers in the problem. Others, not so much. Because I'd only be guessing at what those numbers mean, I'll leave the completion of the problem to you.
And yes, there IS a way to determine the dimensions of the original yard...it was 51 feet by SOMETHING....
When you have the total area, you'll be able to determine what that "something" is.
