Question

Solve each problem by applying the four steps of problem solving. Use the strategy of solving an algebraic equation for each problem. You have enough wallpaper to cover 240 square feet. If your walls are 8 feet high, how wide a wall can you paper?

Short answer

Answer: The width of the wall that can be covered by the available wallpaper is 30 feet.

Step-by-step solution

Write down the given information and equation.

We have the following information: - Area of wallpaper: 240 square feet - Height of walls: 8 feet - Width of wall: unknown We can use the formula Area = Height × Width to solve this problem.

Set up the equation.

Let's denote the width of the wall by the variable "w". We can then write the equation as: 240 = 8 × w

Solve for the width.

To solve for w, we'll divide both sides of the equation by 8: w = \frac{240}{8}

Calculate the result.

Now we can calculate the width by dividing 240 by 8: w = 30 So, the width of the wall that can be covered by the available wallpaper is 30 feet.