Math I need help!

Question

You are painting all four walls of a shed. Each wall is a rectangle with a length of 14 feet and a height of 8 feet. A gallon of paint covers about 350 square feet. How many gallons of paint do you need in order to cover the walls? Write your answer as a decimal.

Answer 1

Hi Tori. Let's break the solution to this problem down into steps.

Step 1: Determine the area of one wall

The area of a rectangle= l x h, where l is the length and h is the height

A=14 feet x 8 feet

A=112 feet²

Step 2: Multiply the area of one wall by 4 to obtain the total area

112 feet² x 4 = 448 feet²

Step 3: Set up equivalent ratios

we should first let x represent the number of gallons of paint needed to cover all 4 walls

1 gallon/ 350 square feet = x gallons/ 448 square feet

Step 4: Solve for x

1 gallon/ 350 square feet = x gallons/ 448 square feet

448 square feet = 350x (cross multiplied; numerator 1 x denominator 2 = numerator 2 x denominator 1)

x= 1.28 gallons (divided by 350 on both sides of the equation)

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