High School

A floor measuring 2m by 1.5m is to be covered with tiles measuring 25cm square. How many tiles will be needed?

a) 120
b) 240
c) 480
d) 960

Answer :

Final answer:

To cover a 2m by 1.5m floor with 25cm square tiles, we calculate the area of the floor and a single tile and then divide the floor area by the tile area. The correct number of tiles needed is 48, which is not one of the options provided.

Explanation:

To determine how many 25cm square tiles are needed to cover a floor measuring 2m by 1.5m, we first need to calculate the area of the floor and then the area of a single tile. The area of the floor is found by multiplying its length and width: 2m × 1.5m = 3m².

Since the tiles are 25cm on each side, and there are 100cm in a meter, we need to convert the dimensions of the tiles to meters. Hence, a tile is 0.25m² in area (since 25cm / 100 = 0.25m).

To find the number of tiles, we divide the area of the floor by the area of one tile: 3m² / 0.25m² = 12 tiles², essentially creating a 'grid' of tiles needed to cover the area of the floor.

Since we need a whole number of tiles, we find that we need 12 x 12 = 144 tiles. However, this is not an option given in the question. Reviewing our calculation, we notice the mistake: we've calculated the number of tiles on one side instead of the total number of tiles.

To find the correct total, we multiply the number of tiles lengthwise (8 tiles, since 2m / 0.25m = 8) by the number of tiles widthwise (6 tiles, since 1.5m / 0.25m = 6), resulting in a total of 8 × 6 = 48 tiles needed to cover the entire floor.