Tommy and Cole are planning to build an aquarium for
their pet fish. If the dimensions of the aquarium are 17
inches long, 9 inches wide, and 11 inches tall, how
much glass do they need to buy to enclose the
aquarium?
To find out how much glass they need to buy to enclose the aquarium, we need to calculate the surface area of the aquarium.
The aquarium has 6 faces: top, bottom, front, back, left side, and right side.
- The top and bottom faces have the same dimensions: 17 inches long by 9 inches wide, so each of them has an area of 17 * 9 = 153 square inches.
- The front and back faces have dimensions of 17 inches long by 11 inches tall, so each of them has an area of 17 * 11 = 187 square inches.
- The left and right side faces have dimensions of 9 inches wide by 11 inches tall, so each of them has an area of 9 * 11 = 99 square inches.
Therefore, the total surface area of the aquarium is:
2(153) + 2(187) + 2(99) = 306 + 374 + 198 = 878 square inches.
So Tommy and Cole need to buy 878 square inches of glass to enclose the aquarium.