Real-Life Math
You're in charge of a landscaping contract for a new low-income family housing unit. As part of the landscaping, you've built fences, planted turf and installed irrigation systems. You are now working on a playground area.
The playground is going to be 10 yards x 20 yards and covered in durable rubber tiles. However, before you can place the rubber tiles, you need to have the earth compacted and covered with a limestone screening half an inch thick. Screening is broken up limestone that will provide a base for the tiles.
"You use math for things like how much coverage you need," says Trish Fielkowich. She is a landscape contractor. "If you're using gravel or bark mulch, you need to know how much to order. You also need to know how many plants to order, and how many to plant per square foot."
If the playground is 10 yards by 20 yards, and the limestone screening needs to be half an inch thick, how many cubic yards of limestone screening will you need to purchase? (Remember that volume = length x width x height.)
If limestone screening costs $300 per cubic yard, how much money will you need?