A rectangular pool is 25 ft by 10 ft. A deck 4 ft wide surrounds the pool. What is the area of the deck?
Show Explanation
Step 1: What do you want?
Read the question: "What is the area of the deck?"
Step 2: What do you have?
Pool = 25 ft × 10 ft
Deck width = 4 ft (surrounds all sides)
Step 3: What's the connection?
First: Find outer dimensions (add 4 to BOTH sides):
$$\text{Outer length} = 25 + 4 + 4 = 33 \text{ ft}$$ $$\text{Outer width} = 10 + 4 + 4 = 18 \text{ ft}$$Then: Deck area = Outer area − Pool area:
$$\text{Deck} = (33 \times 18) - (25 \times 10)$$ $$\text{Deck} = 594 - 250 = 344 \text{ ft}^2$$Answer: 344 ft²