ShmoopTube

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Here’s a shmoopy question for you…

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The carpet with the Hello Kitty pattern costs $4 per square foot. Sheila has $1,300 to spend on carpeting.

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She’d better act quickly before her husband gets home and nixes the idea.

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The mathematical operation needed to figure out the amount of carpeting…in square feet…

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that Sheila can afford is the same one used in calculating which of the following?

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Here are the potential answers…

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So… what is this question asking?

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It's not asking us to solve for a specific number solution.

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No, this problem is asking us to think about HOW we would solve this problem and apply

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the same thought process to similar situations.

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Let's first figure out what mathematical operation

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we would use to figure out the amount of carpeting Sheila can afford.

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We're given how much she can spend, and how much each square foot of carpet costs.

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To find out how much carpeting she can afford, we can just divide 1300, the amount she can

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spend, by the cost per square foot of carpeting, $4.

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So our mathematical operation is DIVISION. It's a bit tedious, but to see what operation

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needs to be used for each answer choice, we have to take a look at every single one.

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Don't worry, there are only four of them. You’ll be able to run outside and play soon enough.

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Alright. Choice A.

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Choice A looks at total miles driven given speed and time.

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Remember distance equals rate TIMES time? Emphasis on the TIMES.

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Sounds like multiplication, not division.

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Moving onto choice B.

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We're looking at total cost given price per gallon and number of gallons.

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Price per gallon times number of gallons will give us total cost...

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so looks like multiplication again.

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Choice C asks for the surface area given number of cans of paint and amount of coverage area

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per can of paint...the two givens will be multiplied together to get surface area...

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so multiplication again.

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We're left with answer choice D...which is probably the right answer...but just to be sure...

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To find the number of cans of paint needed to cover a wall, it makes sense that we'll

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have to DIVIDE the area of the wall by how much area each can of paint will cover.

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Looks like our answer is D.

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As in, “Don’t worry… Sheila’s husband got his revenge.”

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