Question

A carpenter has a board 18 1/2 feet long. He needs to cut as many 1 -3/4 feet long pieces as possible. How many pieces can the carpenter cut? Explain how you found your answer.

Answer 1

Easy if you convert to inches they need to cut 21 inches every time . you have 324 inches of board. 324/ 21 =15
Your answer would be he can only cut up to 15 pieces of board

Answer 2

Answer: Carpenter can cut 10 pieces.

Explanation:

Given: The length of the board =
`18(1)/(2)\ feet=(37)/(2)\ feet`

Also, He needs to cut as many
`1(3)/(4)` feet long pieces as possible.

Then, the length of the pieces the carpenter can cut=
`(37)/(2)/ 1(3)/(4)`

`\\=(37)/(2)/ (7)/(4)\\=(37)/(2)*(4)/(7)\\=(74)/(7)\\= 10.57142\approx10`

Hence, the number of the pieces the carpenter can cut=10