Ping is sewing a square tablecloth. The table she wants to cover is 5.5 feet on each side and she wants it to hang over on each side 9 inches. How many square feet of fabric will Ping need?
I've answered this question in two ways and I think I get to the right answer the second time but it's driving me crazy why it doesn't work the first way.
First way:
The cloth is now a rectangle length 66 in (5.5 feet x 12) by 75 in (5.5 feet x 12, plus 9).
a=l*w=66x75=4950 inches÷12 =412.5 sq ft.
Checking my answer for reasonableness, I thought, but if I just multiply 5.5 feet x 5.5 feet , sans adjustments, I get 30.25.
Second way: 9 inches/12 = .75 ft 5.5+.75 = 6.25 ft, and 5.5 x 6.25 ft = 34.375 SQ ft, makes much more sense. But WHY?
