Sammie bought just enough fencing to border either a rectangular plot or a square plot. The perimeter is of the plots are the same. How many meters of fencing did she buy?

Question

On the square I know all 4 sides are the same. so I would have 4(x+2)as an equation

On the rectangle I know that the length is the same and the width is the same. I know I would use 2(3x+2) and 2(x-1).

I know to use these because I was given a diagram with the x+2 for the square and the 3x+2 and x-1 for the rectangle.

Thats as far as I understand. I don't understand how to set these all up together to work the problem from there.

Answer 1

just set the two expressions equal to each other:

4(x+2) = 2(3x+2) + 2(x-1)

Now you can solve for x and then evaluate either expression for the perimeter.