phyllis wants to fence in a rectangular garden with maximum area. she has 22 feet of fence. all the lengths of the sides of her garden must be whole numbers of feet. what is the best choice available to phyllis for the side lengths of her garden? Why?

3 answers

The maximum area will be the closest to a square.

How about 5 by 6?
With 5 it would be 25 ft needed and with 6 it would be 0 but she only has 22.
I said the closest to a square -- which would be 5 feet by 6 feet.

P = 2L + 2W
22 = 2(5) + 2(6)
22 = 10 + 12

The area would be 30 square feet.