Final answer:
To find the total cost of the paper clips, divide the total length by the length of each paper clip to get the number of paper clips. Then, multiply the number of paper clips by the cost of each paper clip to calculate the total cost.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the total cost of the paper clips, we need to determine the number of paper clips first.
We know that each paper clip is 3/4 of an inch long and the total length of the paper clips laid end to end is 36 inches. So, the number of paper clips can be found by dividing the total length by the length of each paper clip:
Total Length ÷ Length of each paper clip = Number of paper clips
36 inches ÷ (3/4) inch = 36 inches × 4/3 inch = 48 paper clips
Now that we know there are 48 paper clips, we can calculate the total cost by multiplying the number of paper clips by the cost of each paper clip:
Total cost = Number of paper clips × Cost of each paper clip
Total cost = 48 paper clips × $0.02 = $0.96