From the shaded diagram, Raphael will need 3 of the 6 equal portions, or exactly 1/2 of the area of the circle. Given a radius of 12 ft, knowing that the area of any given circle is [tex]\pi r^2[/tex], and knowing that the area of the fabric needs to be half of the total area, we can set up the equation for the area of the fabric [tex]A[/tex]:
[tex]A= \frac{1}{2}\pi (12)^2 [/tex]
Simplifying, we find that the area of the fabric is exactly
[tex] \frac{1}{2} \pi (144)= \frac{144}{2} \pi=72\pi [/tex] ft.² Using the approximation of 3.14 for π, we get an area of approximately [tex]72(3.14)=226.08[/tex] ft² of fabric.