<p>For a project in Home Economics class, Kirk is
making a tablecloth for a circular table 3 feet in
diameter. The finished tablecloth needs to hang down
5 inches over the edge of the table all the way around.
To finish the edge of the tablecloth, Kirk will fold
under and sew down 1 inch of the material all around
the edge. Kirk is going to use a single piece of rectangular
fabric that is 60 inches wide. What is the shortest
length of fabric, in inches, Kirk could use to make the
tablecloth without putting any separate pieces of fabric
together?</p>
<p>I figured this would be the question someone’d ask.</p>
<p>Let’s first convert everything into inches, since that’s the unit of the answer. 3 ft = 36 inches.</p>
<p>The finished tablecloth needs to hang down 5 inches. That means even after Kirk has sewn the 1 inch of material down, the tablecloth needs to hang down 5 inches. That means that we need 6 additional inches of material (6 - 1 = 5), giving us a circle of fabric of radius 24 in (18 + 6). The diameter is then 48 in.</p>
<p>What that means is that our tablecloth is a circle of fabric 48 inches in diameter. The rectangular fabric’s width is more than enough, but its width must be 48 inches or greater to accommodate the 48 in diameter circle.</p>
<p>Uh, weirdly worded question, haven’t seen one much like this one before.</p>
<p>Okay, so the table has a diameter of 3ft = 36 inches. It has to hang down 5 inches around the side. He also sews up 1 inch around the table too. To allow the table cloth to hang 5 inches down it has to go over the edge 6 inches in all directions. The widest piece of fabric needed is the diameter of the circular cloth which is</p>
<p>I got the 6 inches on both sides, and then I proceeded to calculate the surface area of the cylindrical structure, and divide by the width to find the length.</p>
<p>Forgot this is the ACT where nothing is that hard =[</p>