Medium
A farmer built a fence around his square plot. He used 32 fence poles on each side of the square. How many poles did he need altogether?
Explanation
Explanation
Step 1: A square plot has 4 equal sides, and the pole at each corner is shared between the two sides that meet there. Step 2: With 32 poles placed along each side (including both corner poles at its ends), the poles that belong uniquely to one side (excluding one shared corner pole) number 32 - 1 = 31. Step 3: Total poles = 4 × 31 = 124, since each corner pole is counted only once instead of twice. So the farmer needed 124 poles in total.
PRO TIP
Re-check your working by substituting the answer back into the original question.