A monument outside city hall has dimensions as shown in the figure below. If one gallon of paint can cover 238 ft squared, how many gallons of paint must be bought in order to paint the monument? Assume that the base of the monument cannot be planted and that paint can be bought only by the gallon.
The base is 14 ft and the height is 14 ft.
The surface area of the monument can be calculated by finding the area of the triangular faces and the square base.
Area of triangular faces:
1/2 * base * height = 1/2 * 14 ft * 14 ft = 98 ft squared for one triangular face
Since there are two triangular faces, the total area of the triangular faces is 2 * 98 ft squared = 196 ft squared.
Area of square base:
14 ft * 14 ft = 196 ft squared.
Total surface area of the monument:
196 ft squared (triangular faces) + 196 ft squared (square base) = 392 ft squared.
Now, since one gallon of paint can cover 238 ft squared and the monument has a total surface area of 392 ft squared, the total number of gallons needed can be calculated as:
392 ft squared / 238 ft squared/gallon = 1.65 gallons
Therefore, 2 gallons of paint must be bought to paint the monument.