Question

Eleanor and Max used two rectangular pieces of plywood, placed end-to-end, to make a long rectangular stage for the school play. One board was 6 feet long, and the other was 6 1/2
feet long. The two pieces of plywood had equal widths. The total area of the stage was 59 3/8
square feet. What was the width of the plywood?

Answer 1

The area is the product of length and width.

.. area = length * width

.. 61 5/8 = (7 +7 1/2) * width

.. (61 5/8)/(14 1/2) = width = 4 1/4 . . . . feet

The plywood was 4 feet 3 inches wide.

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A calculator that works with fractions figures this nicely. By hand, you might compute it as

.. 61 5/8 = (8*61 +5)/8 = 493/8

.. 14 1/2 = (2*14 +1)/2 = 29/2

.. (61 5/8)/(14 1/2) = (493/8)/(29/2) = (493/8)*(2/29) = 493/(4*29) = 493/116

.. 493/116 = 4 +29/116 = 4 +29/(4*29) = 4 1/4