Final answer:
To cover a 2 feet by 5 feet region with 3-inch by 4-inch tiles, convert the region to inches, calculate the area, and then divide by the area of one tile. The result is 120 tiles needed.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the fewest number of tiles needed to cover a rectangular region measuring 2 feet by 5 feet with tiles that measure 3 inches by 4 inches, we must convert the measurements to the same units and then calculate the area of both spaces.
First, convert the region's measurements from feet to inches since the tile measurements are given in inches: 2 feet = 24 inches and 5 feet = 60 inches.
The area of the rectangular region is 24 inches × 60 inches = 1440 square inches.
The area of one tile is 3 inches × 4 inches = 12 square inches.
Now, divide the large region's area by the area of one tile to get the number of tiles needed: 1440 square inches ÷ 12 square inches per tile = 120 tiles.
Therefore, the fewest number of tiles needed to cover the region is 120.