Question

George is putting trim around his rectangular deck, including the gate. He will need 48 feet of trim to do the entire deck. If the deck is 14 feet long, how wide is the deck?

Answer 1

You have to subtract 48 minus 14 and you get 34. Then split 34 and you get 17 which is the width.

Answer 2

We need to convert the given information to meaningful mathematical equation.

Statement: "George is putting trim around his rectangular deck, including the gate. He will need 48 feet of trim to do the entire deck.", it means

$Perimeter \; of\; the\; rectangle=48\; feet$

Assuming ' L ' as length of the rectangle & ' W ' as the width of the rectangle, the perimeter of rectangle is given by the below formula.

$Perimeter \; of\; the\; rectangle\; =\; 2(L+W)$

We know "the deck is 14 feet long", which means...

$L=14 \; feet$

Substituting 14 for L and 48 for Perimeter of rectangle in the formula above, we can set up and equation in terms of W.

$2(L+W)=Perimeter \; of\; the\; rectangle\\ 2(14+W)=48\\ Divide \; 2\; on\; both\; sides, \; we\; get...\\ \\ \frac{2(14+W)}{2}=\frac{48}{2} \\ Simplifying\; fraction\; on\; both\; sides\\ \\ 14+W=24\\ Subtracting\; 14\; on\; both\; sides\\ \\ 14+W-14=24-14\\ Combine\; like\; terms\\ \\ W=10$

Conclusion:

The width of the deck is 10 Feet