Okay word problem math wizzes. How about this?

[BAMAVOO]

Darren and Douglas must paint the 792-foot fence that encirles their family home. Because Darren is older, he has agreed to paint 20% more than Douglas. How much of the fence will each boy paint?


Lemme see your work as well.

 

[iamwiz82]

are you kidding?

x + 1.2x = 792

 

[maziwanka]

am i missing something here.....

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
are you kidding?

x + 1.2x = 792

hahaha. you beat me to it

 

[clamum]

LOL

 

[SunnyD]

0 and 0

Douglas said he's not going to paint any of it, and since Darren agreed to paint 20% more, 0 x 1.20 = 0.

 

[BAMAVOO]

 

[kloud]

who has a fence that circles their home?

 

[Chaotic42]

x+z=792
z=1.2x
x+1.2x=792
2.2x=792

x=360
z=1.2x=432

 

[illusion88]

Darren, like most californians, hired an illegal mexican to paint his share of the fence. Doug hired a white guy. Darrens mexican showed up the next day, and had it done in less then an hour. Dougs white guy came a week later to discuse how the fence should be painted. He then came the following week to pick the proper shade of white. He came again the NEXT week with a bill three times the original cost, saying that he never forsaw the ammount of time it would take to start such a project. Dougs white guy then promised to come and paint the fence the next week, promising to show up sometime between the hours of 5PM-9PM. He showed up at 7, waited an hour and then left, charging Doug the whole time. He then came three days later and painted the fence, the wrong color. He came back in two weeks and finished the job. A month later he came to Doug demanding more money or he would be taken to court. Doug ended up paying 8 times the original estimated cost. Doug had no money and was forced to sell drugs to preschoolers. Later he started an elementry prostutition ring and ended up become the kingpin of Xtown california. There was a giant drug war that ended up with Doug, and his entire family, getting killed.

Now kids, what did we learn today?

 

[OutHouse]

Douglass will paint 316.8 feet and Darren will paint 475.2 feet.


I calculated 20% of 792 which is 158.4 ft. Then, i arbitrarily assigned x to Douglas and (x + 158.4) to Darren. The formula then becomes (x + (x + 158.4)) = 792 and then solve for x

With the solution of x at 316.8 ft., then Douglas becomes 316.8 ft. and Darren becomes 316.8 + 158.4 yielding 475.2 ft. To check, then, 475.2 + 316.8 = 792

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
0 and 0

Douglas said he's not going to paint any of it, and since Darren agreed to paint 20% more, 0 x 1.20 = 0.

WE HAVE A WINNER!

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
x+z=792
z=1.2x
x+1.2x=792
2.2x=792

x=360
z=1.2x=432

BTW, pending a smartass answer, Chaotic42 is right.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
x+z=792
z=1.2x
x+1.2x=792
2.2x=792

x=360
z=1.2x=432

BTW, pending a smartass answer, Chaotic42 is right.

Oh, not a smartass answer from me (although, I prefer to be the smartass), but did anyone consider that a fence has 2 sides?

So, you can double the length (almost).
Unfortunately, the length of the outside of the fence is greater than the length of the inside of the fence. Assuming the area is rectangular (which is most likely), the outer perimeter will exceed the inner perimeter by 8 times the thickness of the fence. (most evident at the corners). And, that doesn't even consider the issue of the fence posts! What if the posts are 4x4's on the inside of the fence? Then the outer surface area is less than the inner surface area.

What was your teacher thinking when she assigned this problem? This is way too difficult!

edit: Now if only it had been a straight fence, that didn't "encircle" a house. Then these problems would go away. But, since they added "encircles" to the problem, you have to account for it.

 

[GasX]

is it an invisible fence?

 

[amoeba]

Originally posted by: Citrix
Douglass will paint 316.8 feet and Darren will paint 475.2 feet.


I calculated 20% of 792 which is 158.4 ft. Then, i arbitrarily assigned x to Douglas and (x + 158.4) to Darren. The formula then becomes (x + (x + 158.4)) = 792 and then solve for x

With the solution of x at 316.8 ft., then Douglas becomes 316.8 ft. and Darren becomes 316.8 + 158.4 yielding 475.2 ft. To check, then, 475.2 + 316.8 = 792

This is unfortunately wrong. 475.2 is NOT 20% more than 316.8.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
x+z=792
z=1.2x
x+1.2x=792
2.2x=792

x=360
z=1.2x=432

BTW, pending a smartass answer, Chaotic42 is right.

Oh, not a smartass answer from me (although, I prefer to be the smartass), but did anyone consider that a fence has 2 sides?

So, you can double the length (almost).
Unfortunately, the length of the outside of the fence is greater than the length of the inside of the fence. Assuming the area is rectangular (which is most likely), the outer perimeter will exceed the inner perimeter by 8 times the thickness of the fence. (most evident at the corners). And, that doesn't even consider the issue of the fence posts! What if the posts are 4x4's on the inside of the fence? Then the outer surface area is less than the inner surface area.

What was your teacher thinking when she assigned this problem? This is way too difficult!

edit: Now if only it had been a straight fence, that didn't "encircle" a house. Then these problems would go away. But, since they added "encircles" to the problem, you have to account for it.

Of course you can also "Assume" that each boy was responsible for painting both sides of the fence, which would account for double the length. And your calculation for the inner perimeter is slightly off, because at the very least you can subtract out a depth-length of the fence at each joint. Etc. etc.

The problem here is that more often than not, the brain tends to read into these things, when it is in all purposes just that simple.