Mary is fencing in a triangular piece of land for a vegetable
Garden
Vegetable
about how many feet of fencing will mary need?
options:

51
55
58
62

(click on picture to see in full)

58 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

Picture shows a right triangle, the perimeter of a triangle is the sum of ts sides.

In a right triangle we apply Pitagoras Theorem, that is:

c²  = a² + b²    

 where   c is hypotenuse ( opposite side to the right angle )

a   and  b are legs, then we know hypotenuse c = 23 ft   and one leg let say a = 14 ft, then we can calculate the length of the other leg according to:

c²  =  a²  +  b²      ⇒  b²  =  c²  -  a²

b   =  √( c²  - a²)  ⇒   b  =  √(23)² -  (14)²

b = √529 - 196   ⇒   b  =  √333

b = 18,25 ft

Perimeter is:

P  =  a + b + c    ⇒   P  =  23 + 18,25 + 14

P = 55,25 ft

Mary need at least 58 ft of fencing material