Mitchell is hired to paint on a wall with the area of 21 1/8 of square yards. If the wall is 3 1/4 yards long, what is the width?
21.125 / 3.25 = ?
Is the answer 6.5
Correct.
To find the width of the wall, we need to use the formula for the area of a rectangle:
Area = Length × Width
In this case, the given information is the area of the wall, which is 21 1/8 square yards, and the length of the wall, which is 3 1/4 yards. Let's convert the area and length into improper fractions to make the calculations easier:
Area = 21 1/8 = (8 × 21 + 1) / 8 = 169 / 8
Length = 3 1/4 = (4 × 3 + 1) / 4 = 13 / 4
Now we can substitute the given values into the formula:
169 / 8 = (13 / 4) × Width
To solve for Width, we can cross multiply and then isolate the variable:
169 × 4 = 13 × Width
676 = 13 × Width
To find the value of Width, divide both sides of the equation by 13:
Width = 676 / 13
At this point, we can calculate the width of the wall using long division:
52
-------
13 | 676
65
-------
16
13
--------
3
The long division gives us a quotient of 52, without any remainder.
Therefore, the width of the wall is 52 yards.