Question

Mr.Lopez wants to cover the walls of his unfinished basement with pieces of plasterboard that are 8 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 1/4 inch thick. If the basement measure 24 feet wide, 16 feet long, and 8 feet tall, how many pieces of plasterboard will he need to cover all four walls?

Answer 1

You simply need to calculate the surface area of the walls then divide that by the surface area of one tile. That will give you the total # of tiles needed for this project. Do you know how to solve for surface area?

Answer 2

lol im soo confused

Answer 3

like theirs so many numbers which numbers do i divide and how

Answer 4

please help me, please

Answer 5

Lets start with the shape of this room. It is 24 ft wide and 16 ft long, and 8 ft tall.

We need to cover all the walls.

Answer 6

8 times 24 times 16?

Answer 7

So first we need to figure out how much area we need to cover.

\[A = length \times height\]
\[A_{24} = 24 \times 8 \times 2 = 384 ft^2\]
This means that there are two sides that are 24 ft long and 8 ft tall, and gives us the area of these two sides.

Next, we have the sides that are 16 ft long
\[A_{16} = 16 \times 8 \times 2 = 256 ft ^2\]
There are two sides that are 16 ft long and 8 ft tall.

Answer 8

Add those two numbers together, and we get 640 ft^2

That is the total area of the walls of this basement.

Answer 9

Does that make sense to you so far?

Answer 10

Since each piece of plaster is 4ft wide and 8ft long it'll take 6 pieces to cover one 24ft wide wall.

Answer 11

8 ft high rather*

Answer 12

huh

Answer 13

is their a formula

Answer 14

@Hero Any idea why they gave us the thickness?

Answer 15

If that went over your head, just ignore it

Answer 16

so that the plaster can fit into the wall.

Answer 17

so did shadow get it right?

Answer 18

Ah I see what you were doing Hero. My method is a bit more brute force lol.

Answer 19

ummm hows ur method

Answer 20

Just solving for the total area I need to cover, then dividing it by the area of one tile, as that would give the total # of tiles needed to cover that area.

Answer 21

Hero's way is more quick, but requires you to think about it a different way. There's no formula.

Answer 22

You can fit pieces 7 - 10 on the side adjacent to the front wall.

Answer 23

Do you see what Hero did? Since each til is 4 feet wide, he simply did 24/4 = 6.

Answer 24

Because the tile is the same height as the wall, we only need to consider the width.

Answer 25

so the answer is 6

Answer 26

Ah, no.

Answer 27

Six tiles covers one side that is 24 feet wide.

Answer 28

lol this is so hard

Answer 29

Well there's at least 10 pieces of plaster on two walls but yet the other two walls still need to be covered. #Hint

Answer 30

so the answer is 20

Answer 31

Good guess

Answer 32

so that was the answer

Answer 33

thanks sooooo much

Answer 34

You're welcome. Thanks for the assist @Shadow. I was too lazy to draw a picture.

Answer 35

lol yall are the best thanks so much

Answer 36

Yeah I wasn't happy about drawing it either, but it's the best way to envision the problem, lol.

Answer 37

ummm it was helpful though thanks lol

Answer 38

yall are soo lazy lol

Answer 39

😂

Answer 40

Glad we could help (:

Answer 41

We're just lazy enough to help you

Answer 42

yup thank god yall are here

Answer 43

Well put Hero