A window shaped like a parallelogram has an area of 39 2 3 square feet. The height of the window is 4 2 3 feet. How long is the base of the window?

Question

6th grade been stuck on for a while 

Answer 1

Hi Kelsey,

 

Do you mean an Area of 39 2/3 sq feet and a height of 4 2/3 feet?

 

If so, then the way to solve this is to write out the area formula.

 

A = (base)*(height)

 

 

Plug the numbers that you know into the correct places:

 

39 2/3 = (base) * (4 2/3)

 

 

Then solve for the base by dividing both sides by  4 2/3

 

 

If you are to do this without a calculator, then you will need to covert each mixed number to an "improper" fraction (I call these "USEFUL" fractions)

 

39 2/3 = 39 * 3 + 2 = 119/3

 

4 2/3 = 4 * 3 + 2 = 14/3

 

 

Now you have

 

119/3 ÷  14/3  = base

 

 

My students taught me  "KEEP SWITCH FLIP"

 

So we keep the first fraction, switch to multiply, and flip the second fraction.

 

119/3 * 3/14 = base

 

base = 119/14 = 17/2 = 8 1/2 feet