A rectangular athletic field is three times as long as it is wide. If the perimeter of the athletic field is 80 yards, what are the dimensions?

1 Answer
Jan 7, 2018

10 yards by 30 yards.

Explanation:

The perimeter of a rectangle can be given by 2l + 2w where l is the length and w is the width. Given that the length is three times longer than the width, let's designate width to be an unknown variable x and length to be 3x, since it is 3 times longer than the width. Now, plug in l = 3x and w = x into the formula, we get:
2(3x) + 2(x) = 80
6x + 2x = 80
8x = 80
x = 10
Plugging that into the original formula for width and length, we get a width of 10 yards and a length of 30 yards.