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1 vote
1 vote
The Homecoming dance is going to be held in the school gymnasium which is a 300' x 300'

square. The fire marshal requires 4 square feet per person, but they allow an additional 5 people per
exit. The gym has 5 exits. How many tickets can the school sell?

User Nachshon
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1 Answer

18 votes
18 votes

Answer:

22,525

Explanation:

The number of people allowed will be the sum of the number of people based on area and the number of people based on available exits. You have a 300' square area and 5 exits. with 4 square feet per person required, and 5 additional people per exit allowed.

Area

The area of the gym is ...

A = s²

A = (300 ft)² = 90,000 ft²

People based on area

At the rate of 4 square feet per person, the allowed occupancy is ...

(90,000 ft²)/(4 ft²/person) = 22,500 persons

People based on exits

There are 5 exits, and 5 additional persons per exit allowed. That comes to ...

(5 exits)(5 persons/exit) = 25 persons

Allowed occupancy

The total occupancy allowed by these criteria will be ...

(22,500 person) + (25 persons) = 22,525 persons

The school can sell 22,525 tickets.

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Additional comment

This seems like a gross oversimplification of the fire safety requirements. Usually, occupancy is based on how quickly the space can be evacuated. Factors of persons per exit, the size of the exit, and distance to the nearest exit usually come into play. Also a factor is the ability of the egress route to handle the traffic outside the exit.

Using realistic safety requirements, if the 5 exits are each 8' wide, it seems likely the allowed capacity will be closer to 2400 people. It may be less if one exit is assumed to be blocked.

User Marcel Dz
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2.6k points