Question

A rectangular room measures 13 feet by 132 inches. Tonya said the area of the room is 1716 square feet. Explain her mistake, then find the area in square feet.

Answer 1

Her mistake is multiplying 12 inches by 13 so it will be 156 and than multiply 156 x 132. Her answer will be 20592.

Answer 2

The measurements of a rectangular room are 13 feet by 132 inches.

We have to find the area of the room in square feet.

Area of rectangle with length 'l' and width 'w' is given by "
`l * w`".

Since, length='13' feet and width= '132' inches.

So, we will convert the unit of inches into feet.

As 1 foot = 12 inches

So, 132 inches =
`(132)/(12)` feet = '11' feet

Area of rectangular room =
`13 * 11`

= 143 square feet.

Tonya was incorrect because she evaluated the area of room without changing the dimensions. She found the area by
`132 * 13= 1716` square feet. It is incorrect.