A museum groundskeeper is creating a semicircular statuary garden with a diameter of

30 feet. There will be a fence around the garden. The fencing costs $9.25per linear foot.

How much will the fencing cost altogether? Show all work to earn full credit.

1 answer

To find the cost of the fencing for the semicircular statuary garden, we first need to determine the circumference of the semicircle, which will represent the length of the fence required.

  1. Calculate the radius of the semicircle: \[ \text{Diameter} = 30 \text{ feet} \] \[ \text{Radius} = \frac{\text{Diameter}}{2} = \frac{30 \text{ feet}}{2} = 15 \text{ feet} \]

  2. Calculate the circumference of a full circle: The formula for the circumference of a full circle is given by: \[ C = 2\pi r \] Substituting in our radius: \[ C = 2\pi(15) = 30\pi \text{ feet} \]

  3. Determine the length of the fence for the semicircle: Since we only need the length for the semicircle, we take half the circumference of the full circle: \[ \text{Length of the fence} = \frac{C}{2} = \frac{30\pi}{2} = 15\pi \text{ feet} \]

  4. Calculate the cost of the fencing: The cost of fencing is given as $9.25 per linear foot. Therefore, we can calculate the total cost: \[ \text{Total cost} = \text{Length of the fence} \times \text{Cost per foot} \] Substituting in the values we found: \[ \text{Total cost} = 15\pi \times 9.25 \text{ dollars} \]

  5. Calculate the total cost numerically: First, calculate \(15\pi\): \[ 15\pi \approx 15 \times 3.14159 \approx 47.12385 \text{ feet} \] Now, calculate the total cost: \[ \text{Total cost} \approx 47.12385 \times 9.25 \approx 435.6414 \text{ dollars} \]

  6. Round the total cost to two decimal places: \[ \text{Total cost} \approx 435.64 \text{ dollars} \]

Therefore, the total cost of the fencing will be approximately $435.64.