Hi boomgoesthegmat,

This question can be solved by TESTing THE ANSWERS.

We're told that we're dealing with a rectangular garden that has a perimeter of 360 yards of fencing. This means that....

2(length) + 2(width) = 360
length + width = 180

We're also told that the length is TWICE the width. We're asked for the length of the garden. Since the answer choices are all numbers, it shouldn't take too much arithmetic to figure out which one fits all of the given information.

Let's TEST Answer B: 140 yards

IF the length is 140 yards, then...
180 - 140 = 40
140 = TWICE 70
40 does NOT = 70, so this cannot be the answer.

To 'shrink' the difference in the two values, we'll need a shorter length, and there's only one answer that fits THAT description. You can prove that it's correct with just a little more work though...

Let's TEST Answer A: 120 yards

IF the length is 140 yards, then...
180 - 120 = 60
120 = TWICE 60
60 DOES = 60, so this MUST be the answer.

Final Answer: A

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

boomgoesthegmat wrote:A rectangular garden is to be twice as long as it is wide. If 360 yards of fencing, including the gate, will completely enclose the garden, what will be the length of the garden, in yards?

A) 120
B) 140
C) 160
D) 180
E) 200

The length of the rectangular garden is twice as long it is wide. Thus, we know:

length = 2(width)

Thus, we can let w = width and 2w = length and create the equation:


360 = 2(2w) + 2w

360 = 4w + 2w

360 = 6w

60 = w

Since the width of the garden is 60 yards, the length is 2 x 60 = 120 yards.

Answer: A