Friday, January 9, 2009

...doing "the math"



I have a logical mind...
anyway...I...think I'm logical...

word problems...I always wanted to "reason out"...
most algebra equations...
I could do, if I remembered the formula...
but since the "why" generally escaped me...
I pretty much forgot them...right away...

when I ordered tile pieces last summer...
I measured the area...
[linear measurements make sense to me...]
I rounded it up about 5 " and divided...
by 8" for the green quarter round...
and by 6" for the rest...

today, I measured 219"...& bumped it to 225"...
divided by 8"[green] & 6"[the rest]...
I came out with needing :

30 pieces of the 8" green...
80 pieces of the 1/2 " black [double row]
80 pieces of the 3x6" white [double row]
40 pieces of the 3x6" black [footer]
40 pieces of the quarter round bullnose black [top trim ]

so I checked my invoices from August...
& I had ordered :

30 pieces of the 8" green [they were $ 14.40 EACH]
80 pieces of the 1/2" black...
1 box[100 pieces/need 80] of the 3x6" white...
1 box[100 pieces/need 40] of the 3x6" black...
40 pieces of the quarter round bullnose black...

we've also done the math for the total floor...
[bathroom & shower stall...]
and we need 32 square feet of the 2" hex, white matte...
[I have the last 33 square feet on earth...
& since it's discontinued...
it was a good grab on my part...]

so though I really don't have a lot of love for math...
[it always gives me headaches...]
I do enjoy a good gloat...
and in this case, being able to do simple math, correctly...
in August, when I was "guesstimating"...
allows me to have all I need now for the construction...

waiting to get the field tiles was also smart...
as they don't take returns on unused tiles...
and I would have been really guessing on the amount needed then...

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