4.

2 Problem Solving Strategies

Draw a Diagram
Look for a Pattern
Make a List Guess, Check and Revise
Estimate
Problem Tamia is building a rectangular kennel for her dog. She wants Make a List
Make a Table
the kennel to have an area of 24 square yards. What is the least amount of
Work Backward
fencing Tamia needs to enclose the kennel? (Use whole numbers only.)

1. Read and Understand 2. Make a Plan

Read the problem carefully.
You know that the kennel must be rectangular
and have an area of 24 square yards.
You want to determine the least amount of
fencing Tamia could use to enclose the kennel.
Decide on a strategy to use.
One way to solve this problem is make a
list. You can list all the possible dimensions
for an rectangular kennel that has an area of
24 square yards.

3. Solve the Problem

Reread the problem and make a list. Area = 24 yd² w
Because the area of a rectangle is the product of the
length and width, list all the whole number products l
equal to 24 to find the possible lengths and widths.
24 × 1, 12 × 2, 8 × 3, 6 × 4
Now use the formula for the perimeter of a rectangle
to calculate the perimeters.
Length Width 2l + 2w Perimeter
24 1 2(24) + 2(1) 50
12 2 2(12) + 2(2) 28
8 3 2(8) + 2(3) 22
6 4 2(6) + 2(4) 20
ANSWER The 6 × 4 kennel has the least perimeter. So, it uses the least amount of fencing 20 yards.
4. Look Back
The greater the difference between a rectangle's length and width, the greater its perimeter
So, it seems reasonable that a rectangular kennel with a length of 6 yards and a width of 4 yards
uses the least amount of fencing.

1.7 Problem Solving Strategies

Look for a Pattern

Problem What happens to the perimeter and the area of a
rectangle if you double the length and the width?

1. Read and Understand

Read the problem carefully.
You need to find how the perimeter and the
area of a rectangle change when the dimensions
of the rectangle are doubled.
2. Make a Plan
Decide on a strategy to use.
Find the perimeter and the area of several
rectangles, find the perimeter and the area
when the dimensions are doubled, and then
look for a patterns in how these
measurement changed.
3. Solve the Problem
Reread the problem and look for a pattern 4 units
Draw several rectangles and label the lengths and 2 units
widths. Find the perimeter and the area of each 4 units 6 units
rectangle. Organize your results in a table.

Make a second table that has the lengths and 3 units

widths from the first table doubled. Find the record 5 units
the perimeter and the area of each rectangle.

Original Dimension Dimensions Doubled

Length Width Perimeter Area Length Width Perimeter Area
l w 2l + 2w lw l w 2l + 2w lw
4 2 12 8 8 4 24 32
5 3 16 15 10 6 32 60
6 4 20 24 12 8 40 96

Look for a pattern in how the perimeters and the areas changed.

ANSWER Doubling the length and width of a rectangle makes the perimeter twice
as great and the area four times as great.
IV. Solve at least 5 problems with complete solutions.

1. The ratio of waterfowl in a given park is 16 ducks to 9 geese. Suppose that there are 192 ducks in
total. How many geese are there in total?

2. If twelve inches correspond to 30.48 centimeters, how many centimeters are there in thirty
inches?

3. A metal bar ten feet long weighs 128 pounds. What is the weight of a similar bar that is two feet
four inches long?

4. The tax on a property with an assessed value of $70,000 is $1,100. What is the assessed value of
a property in the same district, if the tax on that property is $1,400?

5. One piece of pipe 21 meters long is to be cut into two pieces, with the lengths of the pieces being
in a 2 : 5 ratio. What are the lengths of the pieces?

6. Find the mean proportional of 3 and 12.

7. Consider the above park, with 16 ducks and 9 geese. Express the ratio of geese to ducks in all
three formats.

8. In a certain class, the ratio of passing grades to failing grades is 7 to 5. How many of
the 36 students failed the course?

9. In the class above, what percentage of students passed the class? (Round your answer to one
decimal place.)

10. In the park mentioned previously, the ratio of ducks to geese is 16 to 9. How many of
the 300 birds are geese?

11. A building casts a 103-foot shadow at the same time that a 32-foot flagpole casts as 34.5-foot
shadow. How tall is the building? (Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

12. Will is heading out to his car. He notices a tall pine tree whose shadow, from base to tip (and
parallel to the parking lot), is currently the length of two parking spaces, each of which is 2.75
meters wide. Will is 178 cm tall, and he notices that, with his
back to the sun, his shadow extends exactly one shoe-length length past the end of his feet. When
he gets home, he finds that his shoes are 33 cm long. How tall is the tree? (Round to the nearest
half-meter.)

13. The instructions for mixing a certain type of concrete call for 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, and 3
parts gravel. (The amount of water to add will vary, of course, with the wetness of the sand being
used, and will be determined on-site.) You have four cubic feet of sand. How much cement and
gravel should you mix with this sand?
14. A particular liquid-cleanser concentrate says to dilute it by combining one part concentrate with 32
parts water. Your spray bottle's top "fill" line says "946 mL". How much concentrate should you
pour into the bottle? (You'll then add water up to the fill line.) Round to the nearest whole number.

15. A picture measuring 3.5" (that is, 3.5 inches) high by 5" wide is to be enlarged so that the width is
now 9". How tall will the picture be?

16. Two rectangular prisms are similar, with one pair of corresponding lengths being 15 cm and 27
cm, respectively. (a) If the volume of the smaller prism is 2000 cm3, what is the volume of the
larger prism? (b) If the area of one face of the larger prism