Converting Within a System
Mia is building a three-sided shelter for her action figures. The shelter will resemble a
rectangle with one of the long sides removed. She has boards that measure 36
inches, 39 inches, and 42 inches in length; all the boards are the same width. Mia will
need to convert some of these measurements into other imperial units to build the
shelter the way she wants.
Answer the following questions. Show your work. Record your answers below.
Question 1
Mia will use one of these boards for the length of the shelter. She knows she wants
the length of the shelter to measure 3.25 feet. She will use a different board for the
width of the shelter. The width of the shelter will be shorter than the length.
a. Which board will Mia use for the length of the shelter, given that 1 foot = 12
inches?
b. What is the width of the shelter, measured in feet?
c. Mia needs to cut the third board to match the width of the shelter. How many
feet of board will she need to cut off the existing board to reach this goal
a. To determine which board Mia will use for the length of the shelter, we need to find the board that measures 3.25 feet.
Converting the length measurements into feet:
36 inches = 36/12 = 3 feet
39 inches = 39/12 = 3.25 feet
42 inches = 42/12 = 3.5 feet
Therefore, Mia will use the board that measures 39 inches or 3.25 feet for the length of the shelter.
b. The width of the shelter is shorter than the length. Let's assume Mia decides to use the board that measures 36 inches or 3 feet for the width.
c. Mia needs to cut the third board to match the width of the shelter, which is 3 feet. The third board measures 42 inches or 3.5 feet.
To find how many feet of board Mia needs to cut off, we subtract the width of the shelter from the original length of the board:
3.5 feet - 3 feet = 0.5 feet
Mia needs to cut off 0.5 feet of board to match the width of the shelter.