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 
, 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 
:
Simplifying, we find that the area of the fabric is exactly
ft.² Using the approximation of 3.14 for π, we get an area of approximately 
ft² of fabric.
Simplifying, we find that the area of the fabric is exactly