Question

You are planning to make a collage and are gathering materials.for the backing you will use a piece of heavy recycled cardboard that is 4 3/4 feet longhand 2 2/5 feet wide .one side of the cardboard will be covered with fabric.the other side will be left bare against the wall when you hang the collage. Estimate how much fabric you will need explain ? Part 2 you decide to place a design in the middle of the cardboard. This will take up an are of 4 1/2 squqre feet rectangular cut outs that have an area of3/8 sq feet will cover this area how many rect will fit in this area?

Answer 1

1. 4 3/4 feet = 19/4 feet
2 2/5 feet=12/5 feet.
multiplying them together yields 
$\frac{19}{4} * \frac{12}{5} =$
$= \frac{57}{5} = 11.4 ft^{2}$

Part 2: 
11.4 ft^2 - 4 1/2 ft^2=
11.4-4.5=6.9 ft^2 = 69/10 ft^2 left after you subtract the decoration in the middle
Now you're trying to find now many rectangular cutouts (that each are 3/8 ft^2) will fit in the remaining space.
You do that by dividing the remaining space left by 3/8:
$\frac{69}{10} / \frac{3}{8} = \frac{69}{10} * \frac{8}{3} = \frac{92}{5}$
since you have to have a whole number of cutouts, you round 92/5 down to 90/5, which is 18 cutouts