Let us consider a rather routine problem of laying a brick patio. ENGLISH SYSTEM VS. METRIC SYSTEM Problem: How many bricks 3. 75 in. Wide x 8 in. Long Problem: How many bricks 9. 5 cm wide x 20 cm long are required to cover a patio 16 ft. 3 in. Wide are required to cover a patio 5 meters wide by 19 ft. 8 in. Long? by 6 meters long? Step 1. First, find the total width and length of the Step 1. First, find the area of the patio in square cm. Patio in inches. Step 1a. Convert the width and length in meters to cm: Step 1a. Convert the portion of width and length width: 5 m = 5 x = cm that is expressed in feet to inches: length: 6 m = 6 x = cm width: 16 ft. = 16 x = in. Length: 19 ft. = 19 x = in. Step 1b. Find the area of the patio in square cm by multiplying its width by its length: Step 1b. Add these values to the portion of the width cm x cm = cm² and length of the patio expressed in inches to find totals: total width: in. + 3 in. = in. Step 2. Find the area of each brick in square cm total length: in. + 8 in. = in. By multiplying its width by its length: cm x cm = cm² Step 2. Find the area of the patio in square inches by multiplying its total width by its total length: Step 3. Find the number of bricks needed by dividing in. X in. = in. ² the patio area by the brick area (round up to the nearest whole brick): Step 3. Find the area of each brick in square inches / = bricks by multiplying its width by its length: in. X in. = in. ² Step 4. Find the number of bricks needed by dividing the patio area by the brick area (round up to the nearest whole brick): = ? bricks
