Question

A school is constructing new tennis courts. Each rectangular court will be enclosed by a 600 ft fence. The length of the rectangular region will be 60 feet longer than the width. What are the dimensions of the new courts? Use an equation or a system of equations to explain how you determined your answer.

Answer 1

The dimensions are 120 ft by 180 ft.

Let L be the length.  We know that L is 60 feet more than the width, or w+60=L.

We know that the perimeter is given by 2w+2L; in this case, we have 2w+2(w+60) = 600

Using the distributive property, we have
2w+2*w+2*60 = 600
2w+2w+120 = 600

Combining like terms,
4w+120=600

Subtract 120 from both sides:
4w+120-120 = 600-120
4w = 480

Divide both sides by 4:
4w/4 = 480/4
w=120

The width is 120; the length will be 120+60 = 180