Final answer:
Darlene has 3/5 of a yard of fabric and needs to cut it into four equal pieces. Each piece will be 5.4 inches long after converting the length from feet to inches.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question about fabric measurement involves dividing a quantity of fabric into equal sections, which is a common practical application of fractions and ratios in Mathematics. First, we need to know that 1 yard equals 3 feet. If Darlene has 3/5 of a yard of fabric and needs to cut this into 4 equal pieces, each piece would be 3/5 divided by 4. Using the conversion that 1 yard equals 3 feet, we can express Darlene's entire fabric in feet to make the division easier.
Since 3/5 of a yard is the same as 3/5 times 3 feet (because 1 yard is 3 feet), this gives us 9/5 feet or 1.8 feet of fabric. When we cut this length into 4 equal sections, each section would be 1.8 feet divided by 4.
1.8 feet ÷ 4 equals 0.45 feet per section. Since most people use either feet or inches, converting 0.45 feet into inches by multiplying by 12 (since there are 12 inches in a foot) gives us 5.4 inches. Each of the four equal pieces of fabric would be 5.4 inches long.