Ms. Brown has 200m of fencing with which she plans to build a fence( no duh) She intends to construct a rectangular enclosure along a river where no fence is needed. She plans to divide the pen into two smaller pens.

I have the 3 vertical fences labeled as y(there all the same length) and the one horizontal fence labeled as x. Now, I know that x= 200-3y but I can't figure out how to complete the square( I know this involves factoring)

You didn't provide enough information to set up an equation on which to complete the square or any other process. Do the two smaller pens have to have equal areas? Are you trying to determine the largest possible area? No one can help you with this until you specify what the problem actually asks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Farly

Ms. Brown has 200m of fencing with which she plans to build a fence( no duh) She intends to construct a rectangular enclosure along a river where no fence is needed. She plans to divide the pen into two smaller pens.

I have the 3 vertical fences labeled as y(there all the same length) and the one horizontal fence labeled as x. Now, i know that x= 200-3y but i can't figure out how to complete the square( i know this involves factoring)

---

The area is to be a maximum. The question asks for the dimensions of the pen. The individual pen size shouldn't matter but according to the diagram given they look to be the same size.

~~~~~~~~~~~(river)
|````|`````|
|````|`````|
|____|_____|
200-3y

(`) = blank space
(| & _ )= fence
(~) = river
vertical fence = y
horazontal fence=x

does this help?