Question

Bridget’s rectangular living room was 12ft 8in by 14ft 6in How many of carpet will she need if she was advised to expect 10% waste and she cannot buy part of a square yard?

Answer 1

The first step we need to do is to convert the measures from inches to feet (12 inches is 1 foot):

8 inches = 8/12 feet = 0.667 feet

6 inches = 6/12 feet = 0.5 feet

So the measures are 12.667 ft and 14.5 ft.

Now, to find the area of the rectangular living room, we just need to multiply these measures:

`\text{Area}=12.667\cdot14.5=183.67in^2`

Since we expect a waste of 10%, we need to increase this area by 10%, that is, we multiply it by 110% or 1.1:

`NewArea=Area\cdot1.1=183.67\cdot1.1=202.03in^2`

Since she cannot buy part of a square yard, we need to round up our answer (if we round down, the amount of carpet will not be enough). So rouding up, she will have to buy 203 in2 of carpet.