There is a total of 37feet of lumber. You may use as much of this as you need.

Your class has raised $121.00 to buy sand. A bag of sand costs $ 1.50. One bag will cover an area of one square foot. What is the largest sand-filled area you can make for the money and lumber you have?

4 answers

The 37 feet of lumber can be used for the edges (perimeter) of the sand-filled area. Each side of a square would be 9.25 feet long. The area of this square is 85.56 square feet.

To find the number of bags of sand, divide: 121 / 1.50 = ?
Thank you very much MS. Sue,thats what my daughter told me to do, and I was going another direction.......
i got 81
Actually you can't round in this problem. A total cost of $81 at $1.50 per bag would only buy you 80 bags.

80 * 1.50 = $120. The extra dollar won't buy you another bag.