Since the problem said he uses 160 feet of fence, you know that is the perimeter P = 2l + 2w You know that one of the dimensions is 50, so you can plug that into the equation 160 = 2 x 50 + 2w 160 = 100 + 2w 2w = 60 w = 30 The area is equal to l x w 50 x 30 = 1500 square feet