Integers word problem

Question

Missys father bought her an 18 foot board to cut into shelves for her bedroom. Missy plans to cut the boards into 6 equal size lengths for her shelves. The saw blade that missy will use to cut the board will change the length of the board by -0.1875 inches for each cut. Explain how this will affect the length of the board.

Answer 1

Make sure you draw a diagram first. There

will be 5 cuts to the board to make 6 equal size

shelves. Call the length of each shelf "x". Each

cut subtracts .1875in from the board. The cut is

in terms of inches and the length of the board is

in feet, so convert 18ft to inches.

18ft* 12in/1ft = 216in.

Length of board is 18ft or 216in.

<------------------------------216in -------------------------------->

------x----|-----x----|-----x-----|-----x-----|------x----|-----x----

Each | is .1875in

So then,

x+.1875+x+.1875+x+.1875+x+.1875+x+.1875+x=216

6x + .9375 = 216

Solve this for x and you will have

the length of each shelf in inches.

You can then convert this back to

feet to finish.

**NOTE**

The problem is not actually asking

for the length of each shelf, but how

the length of the board is changed by

the cuts. Each cut subtracts .1875in

and there are 5 cuts, so 5*.1875in =

.9375in. The board is decreased in

size by .9375in from these cuts.

This is an interesting real world

problem, so I went ahead and did

more to show how to find the length

of each shelf.

Answer 2

Draw and label a diagram.

How many cuts must Missy make?

How much of the board is "wasted" with all of the cuts?