Question

Carl decided to fence in his rectangular garden. He bought $20$ fence posts, placed one on each of the four corners, and spaced out the rest evenly along the edges of the garden, leaving exactly $4$ yards between neighboring posts. The longer side of his garden, including the corners, has twice as many posts as the shorter side, including the corners. What is the area, in square yards, of Carl's garden?

$256$

$336$

$384$

$448$

$512$

Answer: B

Concepts:fencepost counting system of equations rectangle perimeter

Difficulty rating: 1440

Solution:

Let the shorter side have $x$ posts, so the longer side has $2x.$ Counting all posts and subtracting the four corners counted twice, $2x+2(2x)-4=20,$ giving $x=4.$ The shorter side has $4$ posts, or $(4-1)\cdot4=12$ yards, and the longer side has $8$ posts, or $(8-1)\cdot4=28$ yards. The area is $12\cdot28=336.$

Thus, the correct answer is B.

2016 AMC 12B Problem 9

Answer: B

Difficulty rating: 1440

Solution:

Problem 9 in Other Years