Question

Which should be calculated first to solve this story problem?



Kathie was buying materials for a quilt. She bought 4.5 yards of padding, 7.5 yards of cotton, and 4.95 yards of red trim. She also bought some black trim and some white trim. She bought 4 times as much black trim as she did red trim and 3 times as much white trim as red trim.



How many yards of trim did Kathie buy for her quilt?









A.
the amount of black trim purchased







B.
the total amount of padding, cotton, and trim that Kathie bought

Answer 1

C.
the difference between the amount of padding and the amount of cotton that Kathie bought

Answer 2

B?

Answer 3

@ilovemath14

Answer 4

@jhonyy9

Answer 5

@TheSmartOne

Answer 6

B

Answer 7

im not sure how to figure this one

Answer 8

The only question is how much TRIM did she buy?
You are only interested in the trim.
The answer is not B.

Answer 9

A is about trim right?

Answer 10

Let's summarize the parts of the problem.

She bought:
4.5 yd padding
7.5 yd cotton
4.95 yd red trim
4 times as much black trim as red trim
3 times as much white trim as red trim

The question is how much total trim did she buy?

Answer 11

To answer the question, you need to find how much red trim, black trim and white trim she bought and add them together.

We know the exact amount of red trim she bought because we were told, 4.95 yd.
The amounts of black trim and white trim are based on the amount of red trim.
To find them, you need to multiply the amount of red trim by 4 and by 3.

That means, the first step is to calculate how much black trim she bought.

Answer 12

The answer is A. You are correct now.

Answer 13

Pretty sure the answer is A since you need to find how much black trim she bought in order to find the amount of white trim, if that makes sense...

Answer 14

thanks

Answer 15

@jmlovett2000
You're on the right track, but not completely correct.
Both the black trim and the white trim are given in terms of the red trim.
We know the amount of red trim because it's given.
4 times the red trim is the black trim.
3 times the red trim is the white trim.
The white trim does not depend on the black trim.
The answer is A, but not for the reason you gave.

Answer 16

@mathstudent55 thank you for the feedback :)