Question

john wants to fence in a portion of his backyard. the dimensions of the area are 12 1/2 yards long and 5 1/2 yards wide. how many feet of fencing does john need to buy to enclose this area?

Answer 1

For this problem you need to find the area.
To find area, you multiply the width by the length.
You multiply 12 1/2 by 5 1/2 and you get 31 1/4
This is how you do it::

= 25/2 × 5/2

= (25 × 5) / (2 × 2)

= 125/4

= 125/4

= 31 1/4

So you know that the area is 31 1/4 yards. 
In the question it asks HOW MANY FEET so we have to convert 31 1/4 yards to feet. 
1 yard= 3 feet
31 1/4 *3= 93.75
John need to buy 93.75 feet of fencing to enclose the area.

Answer 2

12.5+12.5+5.5+5.5=36 there are 3 ft in a yard so 36*3=108ft
L+L+W+W= Area