For Monica's 14th birthday, she wants to make over her bedroom. The first phase in the bedroom makeover is painting her room. If Monica's room is 20 ft. long,
15 ft. wide, and 10 ft. high, how many square feet of wall space does she need to paint?
To find the amount of wall space that needs to be painted, we need to calculate the surface area of the four walls in Monica's room.
First, we need to find the surface area of the two longer walls:
Surface area of one long wall = height x length
= 10 ft x 20 ft
= 200 square feet
Since there are two long walls, the total surface area of the long walls is:
200 sq ft x 2 = 400 square feet
Next, we need to find the surface area of the two shorter walls:
Surface area of one short wall = height x width
= 10 ft x 15 ft
= 150 square feet
Since there are two short walls, the total surface area of the short walls is:
150 sq ft x 2 = 300 square feet
Finally, we add the total surface area of the long walls and short walls:
400 sq ft + 300 sq ft = 700 square feet
Therefore, Monica needs to paint 700 square feet of wall space in her room for the makeover.