Remember the living room carpet stained by the spectacular birthday party and the two ads for carpet cleaning? One company charges $1.79 per square foot while the other charges $149 per room.
Suppose your living room has these dimensions: two sides are 12 feet long and the other two sides are 10 feet long. Which company should you hire to help you clean up the mess? Study the steps on these slides to learn how arrive at an answer.
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Step 1: Identify the type of quadrilateral involved.
What shape is formed by the living room carpet? a rectangle Step 2: Identify what information is needed to solve the problem.
What quadrilateral parts are involved in the carpet cleaning problem? (Possibilities include a missing angle, a missing diagonal, area or perimeter, or a missing side length.) To solve this problem you would need to calculate the area of the carpet. Step 3: Recall the formula or property needed to find the missing information.
Which formula do you need to determine area? Area of a Rectangle= Length x Width Step 4: Use the formula to find missing information.
What is the area of the living room carpet? (How many square feet?) Area = 12 ft x 10 ft = 120 square feet Step 5: Perform any additional steps or comparisons needed to arrive at a solution.
Now that you know the area of the carpet, you still need to determine which company provides the more economical service. What else do you need to do solve this problem? Calculate the cost you'll be charged by Spotless Carpets by multiplying the area of the carpet (in square feet) by $1.79. Then, compare that price to SteamClean's rate of $149 per room. |
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Question
So which is the better deal?
Spotless Carpets will charge $214.80 (120 f\(\mathsf{t^2 }\)*$1.79/f\(\mathsf{ t^2 }\) = $214.80), which is considerably more than SteamClean's price. SteamClean charges $149 for any size room.
Question
Now, suppose that your parents were not quite right when they told you the living room was 10 x 12 feet. You measure the room and find that the dimensions are actually 11 ft by 8 ft. Then, you find a coupon for SteamClean in the mailbox. They have a $99 per room special going on.
Not to be outdone, Spotless Carpets sent out a coupon that lets you pay $1.09 per square foot. Using the steps above as your guide, determine which company provides the best deal with its coupons.
