Question

Your job is to paint lines in a long, straight parking lot. You determine the dividing lines need to be parallel. The length of the parking lot next to the curb is 162 ft. You need to determine which angle the lines should be drawn with the curb to maximize the number of cars that can park.

a. How far apart should the lines be?
b. What angle should they each be with the curb?
c. Is the angle right, obtuse, or acute?
d. What is the measure of the angle adjacent to the angle you calculate?
e. Is the angle right, obtuse, or acute?
f. How are the two angles related?
g. How many spots will there be?

Answer 1

Right angles create the most parking spaces on a given line.
The lines should be wide enough for people to open their doors.
They don't need to be wide enough for adjacent cars to open toward each other simultaneously.
Right angle straight in, 9ft apart, gives uniform maximum density.

a. How far apart should the lines be? 9ft
b. What angle should they each be with the curb? 90
c. Is the angle right, obtuse, or acute? right
d. What is the measure of the angle adjacent to the angle you calculate? 90
e. Is the angle right, obtuse, or acute? right
f. How are the two angles related? Both are same
g. How many spots will there be? 18