Question

a new homeowner is painting the walls of a room. the walls have a total area of 253 square feet. a quart of
quarts are needed?

1. understand the problem. reread it as many times as needed.

which sentence below describes the solution to this problem?

a. the area being painted is the area covered by a quart divided by the number of quarts needed, round
b. the number of quarts needed is the area being painted divided by the area covered by a quart, round
c. the number of quarts needed is the area covered by a quart divided by the area being painted, round
d. the area being painted is the number of quarts needed divided by the area covered by a quart, round

1. translate into an equation. substitute the values for the number of square feet being painted and the squ

number of quarts is square feet divided by square feet per quart
number of quarts = 253 ÷ 46

1. solve. perform the division. do not round your answer.

253 ÷ 46 = 5.5 (type an integer or a decimal.)

5.5 quarts are needed to paint the room. since paint is sold in whole quarts only, round up the quotient.
5.5 rounds up to 5.

Explanation:

Step1: Analyze Option A

Option A says the area being painted is (area per quart / number of quarts), which is incorrect. The area should relate to (number of quarts × area per quart), so A is wrong.

Step2: Analyze Option B

Option B states number of quarts = (area being painted / area per quart). This makes sense: if each quart covers a certain area, to find how many quarts are needed, we divide the total area by the area per quart.

Step3: Analyze Option C

Option C has number of quarts = (area per quart / area being painted), which is the reciprocal of the correct relationship, so C is wrong.

Step4: Analyze Option D

Option D says area being painted = (number of quarts / area per quart), which is also incorrect as it should be area = number of quarts × area per quart.

For the rounding part, 5.5 when rounding up (since we can't buy half a quart, we need to round up to the next whole number) should be 6, not 5. But for the first part (the multiple - choice question about the description of the solution):

Answer:

B. The number of quarts needed is the area being painted divided by the area covered by a quart, rounded (Note: Also, the rounding of 5.5 should be 6, not 5 as in the original text's mistake)