Five stacks of bricks are piled outside the Winter Street School waiting to be used to create a path. They are in their shipping stacks, which are 9 bricks high, 9 bricks across, and 4 bricks deep. Twelve bricks will cover an area of 16 inches x 24 inches.
If the path is to be 4 feet wide, how long will it be (in feet and inches) if all but 1 dozen bricks are used?
Answer
The path will be 89 feet, 4 inches long. (Remember, .3333 of a foot = 4 inches.)
Number of bricks in stacks = 5 x 9 x 9 x 4 = 1,620
Number of bricks used = 1,620—12 = 1,608
Area covered by 12 bricks = 16 x 24 = 384 square inches
Area covered by 1 brick = 384 / 12 = 32 square inches
Area covered by 1,608 bricks = 32 x 1,608 = 51,456 square inches
Length of path covered = (area of path) / (width of path) inches
= 51,456 / 48 inches
= 1,072 inches or feet
