Question

A local playground is rectangular and has an area of 76.5 square meters. One side of the playground is 10 meters long. Maria says, "The length of the other side is the quotient of 76.5 and 10, so move the decimal point in 76.5 two places to the left because there are two digits in the number 10." Explain and correct Maria's error.

Answer 1

Answer:

The length of the other side is 7.65m

Step-by-step explanation:

Maria's mistake was that she wanted to move the decimal point 2 places to the left, when she should have moved it 1 place, since that is the number of zeros that the number 10 has.

To find the length of the rectangle, we simply divide the area by the width

a = area = 76.5 m

w = width = 10m

l = length

l = a/w

l = 76.5m² / 10m

l = 7.65m

The length of the other side is 7.65m