Final answer:
To find the cost of buying square tiles, calculate the area of the room and the larger square, find the number of tiles needed, and multiply by the cost per tile. Therefore, the cost of buying these square tiles is $12.50.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the cost of buying the square tiles, we need to calculate the total number of tiles and then multiply it by the cost per tile. First, let's find the area of the room. Since the room is a square, we can calculate the area by multiplying the side length by itself: 14.4 inches x 14.4 inches = 207.36 square inches. Now, let's find the area of the larger square using the dimensions mentioned. The side length of the larger square is 8 inches, so the area is 8 inches x 8 inches = 64 square inches. To find the number of tiles needed, we divide the area of the larger square by the area of each tile: 64 square inches / 207.36 square inches = 0.308 tiles. Since we can't buy a fraction of a tile, we round up to 1 tile. Finally, we multiply the number of tiles by the cost per tile to find the total cost: 1 tile x $12.50 = $12.50. Therefore, the cost of buying these square tiles is $12.50.