What is the fewest number of 1 foot square patio tiles that would completely cover the rectangular patios 14 feet wide by 16 feet long

Question

What is the fewest number of 1 foot square foot patio tiles that would cover a rectangular sidewalk 3 feet wide by 12 feet long

Answer 1

The original question posted seems to ask two different questions, one in the header and one in the description:

1.) What is the least number of 1 square-foot patio tiles that would cover a rectangular sidewalk 3 feet wide by 12 feet long?

2.) What is the least number of 1 square-foot patio tiles that would completely cover the rectangular patio 14 feet wide by 16 feet long?

However, both questions are of the same type (very common on the ACT, in particular) and can be solved using the same method: Big Unit of Length, Area, or Volume DIVIDED BY Small Unit of Length, Area, or Volume EQUALS the number of Small Units needed to cover the Big Unit.

For question 2), for instance, that would be 36 square feet for the sidewalk (3 ft x 12 ft) divided by 1 square foot/tile to equal 36 square-foot tiles needed to cover that sidewalk.

For the sake of variety, suppose that each tile in question 2) actually had an area of 2-square feet. Then it would be 36 divided by 2, resulting in 18 square-foot tiles needed to cover the sidewalk.

Answer 2

Monique,

 

Area of sidewalk = 3*12 = 36 sq ft

 

Each tile is 1 sq ft

 

Number of tiles needed = 36/1 = 36