EXAMPLE 2.6.13 solution

The diagram below shows a city park that will be landscaped, at a cost of $2 per square yard. Find the total cost of this project.

 We need to find the area of the triangular figure (in square yards) and multiply by the cost factor of $2 per square yard.

The area of a triangle is (1/2)bh.

In this case, b = 480 feet and h = 240 feet.

Since we want to compute the area in square yards rather than square feet, we will convert both measurements to yards before computing the area.

b = 480 feet = (480/3) yards =160 yards

h = 240 feet = (240/3) yards = 80 yards

Area of triangle = (1/2)(160 yards)(80 yards) = 6,400 square yards

Finally,

Cost = (6,400 sq. yd.)($2 per sq. yd) = $12,800