Here's a spooky problem to ponder -- if you dare!

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The ghoulish inhabitants of a ghost town decide to build themselves a new home -- that is, a brand new cemetery. They have scraped together $10,000 (by selling their gold fillings and haunting their rich living relatives). They plan to use as much of the vacant land north of Creepy Street as they need, but they will need to build a rectangular fence around the new cemetery. On the three sides of the rectangle not facing Creepy Street they will use materials costing $10 per foot of fence. But on the one side which borders Creepy Street, they need more expensive materials costing $15 per foot.

In order to make their new home as large as possible in area, what dimensions should they choose for the rectangular cemetery? Remember, they have $10,000 to spend on the fence.

Courtesy of Mark Nielsen