Nala and her cousin agreed that they would each mow one-half of the lawn. The lawn is a 25' by 45' rectangle. The lawn mower cuts a path two feet wide. Nala starts at one corner and mows a path completely around the outside, and then continues to mow the outermost strips working her way inward. If she continues to mow like this, how many times should she go around to mow one half of the lawn?

Answer 1

Total area = 25*45 = 1125 sq.ft.
Half of the area = 562.5 sq.ft

What is needed is the size of the inside rectangle left, or
(25-x)(45-x)=562.5
Solve for x to get x=9.26' and reject the other root which exceeds 25.
Since 9.26'/2'=4.63 strips, so Nala has to go around the lawn between 4 and 5 times to do half the lawn.

Answer 2

Since going around once reduces the width and length by 4',
9.26'/4'=2.315
Nala would need to mow around the lawn between 2 to 3 times to finish half the work.