Maya wants to make a table cloth that measures 5 feet wide and 6 feet long. If the fabric she wants costs $3 per square yard, how much does Maya need to pay for the fabric? Assume no fabric is wasted.

Answer 1

You must start by converting the measurements of each edge of her intended table cloth into square feet. To do this just multiply the length and the width.

5 feet x 6 feet = 30 square feet

Then you need to know how many square feet are in a square yard. We can begin by determining how many feet are in a yard. There are 3 feet in a yard, so a square yard is 3 feet long and 3 feet wide.

From here we can determine the number of square feet again by multiplying the length and the width.

3 feet x 3 feet = 9 square feet

Now we know how many square feet that we need and how many square feet are in a yard, we can determine how many square yards we need by dividing.

30 square feet / 9 square feet in a square yard = 3 and 1/3 square yards

If the cost is $3 per yard and we need 3 and 1/3 yards, then we can figure the total cost by multiplying them.

$3 per square yard x 3 and 1/3 square yards = $10 total for the fabric.