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Freddy has a piece of string that is 20 inches. . .

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by Vincen » Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:26 pm
Freddy has a piece of string that is 20 inches long. He wants to use the string as the perimeter of a rectangle. What is the greatest area that rectangle could have?

A) 5
B) 10
C) 20
D) 25
E) 40

The Official Answer is D.

I couldn't do the calculus to solve it. Please, help me.
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by [email protected] » Sat Sep 16, 2017 10:52 am
Hi Vincen,

We're asked to use a 20 inch string to form the perimeter of a rectangle. We're asked for the LARGEST possible rectangular area that could be created. This question is built around a relatively rare concept (while you might see it on Test Day, it would likely be just once). In simple terms, when dealing with a 'fixed' total length as described in the prompt, the largest area will be created when you form a SQUARE.

For example, with a 20 inch string, you could form the following rectangles:
A 1x9 rectangle with an area of 9
A 2x8 rectangle with an area of 16
A 3x7 rectangle with an area of 22
A 4x6 rectangle with an area of 24
A 5x5 rectangle with an area of 25

There's no other possible rectangle that will lead to an area that is larger than 25.

Final Answer: D

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Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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Re: Freddy has a piece of string that is 20 inches. . .

by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Sun Feb 02, 2020 1:53 pm
Vincen wrote: ↑
Fri Sep 15, 2017 7:26 pm
 Freddy has a piece of string that is 20 inches long. He wants to use the string as the perimeter of a rectangle. What is the greatest area that rectangle could have?

A) 5
B) 10
C) 20
D) 25
E) 40

The Official Answer is D.

I couldn't do the calculus to solve it. Please, help me.
The greatest possible area of a rectangle occurs if all sides are equal, so if each side is 5, the greatest area is 5 x 5 = 25.

Answer: D

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder and CEO
[email protected]

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