Question

6. You want to build a back deck that is 15 feet by 12 feet. You plan on using these tiles:
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How many of these tiles will you need to buy in order to build your entire deck (remember, it must be a whole number)?
tiles

Answer 1

Answer:

  65 tiles

Step-by-step explanation:

You want to know the number of 20" square tiles required to cover a 15 ft by 12 ft deck.

Inches

In inches, the dimensions of the deck are ...

  (15 ft)×(12 in/ft) = 180 in . . . . . long

  (12 ft)×(12 in/ft) = 144 in . . . . . wide

The number of tiles required to cover this area is ...

  $\dfrac{(180\text{ in})(144\text{ in})}{(20\text{ in})^2}=\dfrac{180}{20}\cdot\dfrac{144}{20}=9\times7.2 = 64.8\quad\text{tiles}$

You need to buy the next higher integer number of tiles: 65.

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Additional comment

This assumes you can cut one 20" tile into pieces that are 4" wide to achieve a total measure of 144" in the width. Nine (9) such pieces are needed. If there is no waste, they can be cut from 2 tiles, with one 4" wide piece left over.

If there is some directionality to the tiles (they are tongue-and-groove, for example), then the number required may be 9×8 = 72 tiles.