Problema Solution

To meet building codes, a building must have a roof no taller than 96 feet. An architect is designing an office building with an 18 3/4 foot ground floor, and 11 foot 8 inches upper floors (including supports). How many floors, including the ground floor, can the building have?

Answer provided by our tutors

1 ft = 12 in

1 in = 1/12 ft

18 3/4 ft = (18*4 + 3)/4 = 75/4 ft

11 ft 8 in = 11 + 8*(1/12) = 11 + 2/3 = 35/3 ft

Let 'x' represent the number of floors besides the ground floor:

75/4 + x(35/3) <= 96

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click here to see the equation solved for x

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x <= 6.6

Thus the building can have maximum 6 + 1 = 7 floors (including the ground floor).