Kelly is using 3-inch square tiles to cover a 4 foot by 2-foot area. The tiles are 0.5 inch tall. If the tiles were stacked on top of each other to create a tower, how many inches tall would the tower be?

1 Answer
David G.
Aug 10, 2017

A foot is 12 inches, so it takes 4 tiles to make a foot. One side is 4 feet long, so 16 tiles, the other is 2 feet long, so 8 tiles. The area, in tiles, is #16x8=128# tiles. Then 128 tiles x 0.5 inches makes the stack #128xx0.5=64# inches tall.

Explanation:

The question is a little ambiguous. Are the tiles 3 inches by 3 inches, for a surface area of 9 square inches, or are they #sqrt3# by #sqrt3# inches for a surface area of 3 square inches? I'm going to assume it's the former, because it makes the maths easier. ;-)

(interesting that someone from Brisbane, Australia, asked a question in feet and inches, since we've had the metric system here since the 70s. Still, once you know there are 12 inches in a foot, it's just an algebra question)

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