Question

A kitchen has a tabletop that is a rectangle 24in long and 18 in wide.

Jane is an interior designer and wants to cover the tabletop in small tiles.
She knows the area each bag of tiles covers, but only in square centimeters.

Answer 1

a)

very straighforwards, a rectangle of 24 in x18 in has an area of simply that product.

however, that gives us in², so we firstly need to convert those inches to cm, so since 1 inch is 2.54 cm, then 24 inches is just 24*2.54, and likewise 18 inches is just 18*2.54.

so the tabletop is (24*2.54) * (18*2.54) = 2787.09 cm².

b)

each bag can cover 260 cm², she can't buy any partials, half a bag or a quarter of a bag, is a whole bag or nothing.

well, if she only buys one, she'll be able to cover 260 cm², however the tabletop is 2787.09 cm², so, how many times does 260 go into 2787.09? 2787.09 ÷ 260 ≈ 10.72.

so she needs 10 bags plus 0.72 of another, the store doesn't sell partials, so she'll need to buy another bag, namely 11 bags.

c)

well, each bag is 3.76, for eleven bags that'll be 11*3.76 = 41.36.