Question

Three tables are placed side by side. One table is 4 feet 9 inches wide, another is 5 feet 11 inches wide, and the third is 2 feet 10 inches wide. How wide arethey combined?Write your answer in feet and inches. Usenumber less than 12 for inches.

Answer 1

We have 3 tables that are placed side by side.

We have to find the final width of them combined.

Then, the final width will be the sum of the width of the 3 tables:

$\begin{gathered} W=w_1+w_2+w_3 \\ W=9in+11in+10in \\ W=30in \end{gathered}$

We know that the total width is 30 in, but we need to express it as feet and inches.

Knowing that 1 foot is 12 inches, we wan divide the total width by 12 and see how many feet it represents:

$W=\frac{30in}{\frac{12in}{1ft}}=2.5ft$

So we will express this width as 2 ft plus a remaining quantity in inches. This remaining quantity is 0.5 ft, but we have to convert it to inches.

To do that, we use the equivalency 12 inches = 1 foot, and multiply the remaining quantity to express it in inches:

$0.5ft\cdot\frac{12in}{1ft}=6in$

Then, we add the 2 feet and the final width results in 2 feet and 6 inches.

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