bonemaker said:
Lydia and Wayne are shopping for carpets for their home and are looking for the best carpet at the best price. Carnie's Carpets offers them a wool carpet for $21.50 per square yard. Flora's Flooring says they will match that same carpet for only $2.45 per square foot, while Dora's Deep Discount off them an 8 by 12 foot rug of the same carpet material for $210.24. What is the lowest price per square foot offered to Lydia and Wayne?
(1) $24.50
(2) $2.45
(3) $21.90
(4) $2.19
(5) $2.39
and if you could let me know how to figure out the problem also instead of just the answer that would be great!!!
Let's figure it out together
The FIRST thing to do when a problem confuses you, particularly a word problem, is to summarize the information in mathematical form
So the cost at Carnie's = c = $21.50/sq. yds.
The cost at Flora's = f = $2.45/sq. ft.
The cost at Dora's = d = $210.34/(8ft * 12 ft).
Do you see where all that information came from in the word-problem?
Do you notice that the problem asks for a comparison in dollars / per square foot?
Is all your information in the right form?
If not, which pieces of information are not yet in the right form?
The process of writing everything down in a neat mathematical form is to get things ready for mathematical manipulation and to separate the essential information from the inessential.
The process of asking questions about what the problem requires compared to what the information provides will give you clues about how to proceed.
These two steps are the secret to word problems.
Now what are your answers to the four questions I posed above.
