Mark is preparing a walkway around his inground pool. The pool is 20 by 40 ft and the walkway is intended to be 4 ft wide. Determine the area of the walkway?
a. 224 ft2
b. 416 ft2
c. 256 ft2
d. 544 ft2
d. The area of the walkway is similar to the entire area (area of the walkway and pool) minus the area of the pool. The area of the entire region is length times width. Since the pool is 20 feet wide and the walkway includes 4 feet onto each side, the width of the rectangle prepared by the walkwayand pool is 20 + 4 + 4 = 28 feet. Since the pool is 40 feet long and the walkway includes 4 feet onto each side, the length of the rectangle formed by the walkway and pool is 40 + 4 + 4 = 48 feet. Thus, the area of the walkway and pool is (28)(48) = 1,344 ft2. The area of the pool is (20)(40) = 800 ft2. 1,344 ft2 - 800 ft2 = 544 ft2. If you select c, you extended the entire area's width and length by 4 feet instead of 8 feet.