A lawn is 30 m by 20 m. A path of the same width runs all around it on the outside, and the path has an area of 216 m². How wide is the path?

Question

Accepted Answer

2 m. Outer area = 600 + 216 = 816 m². Try 2 m: (30 + 4) × (20 + 4) = 34 × 24 = 816 ✓. Try 3 m: 36 × 26 = 936, too big.

A lawn is 30 m by 20 m. A path of the same width runs all around it on the outside, and the path has an area of $216 m^{2}$ . How wide is the path?