SOLUTION: Please help me solve this: how much canvas is needed to make an A-frame tent that is 4ft high with a rectangular floor 6ft wide and 9ft long?

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Question 601539: Please help me solve this:
how much canvas is needed to make an A-frame tent that is 4ft high with a rectangular floor 6ft wide and 9ft long?
Answer by KMST(5328) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The front of the tent would look like this:
made of 2 right triangles with leg lengths of 3 feet and 4 feet.
The area of each triangle (in square feet) is
%281%2F2%29%2A3%2A4=6 so the front requires at least 12 square feet of canvas.
The back will also require 12 square feet of canvas.
The hypotenuse of those right triangles has a length (in feet) of x and
x%5E2=3%5E2%2B4%5E2=9%2B16=23 according to Pythagoras theorem.
So x=sqrt%2823%29 or about 4.8 feet.
The pieces that form the roof will have that width and a length of 9 feet.
So the amount of canvas needed for the roof (in square feet) is
2%2A%28sqrt%2823%29%2A9%29=2%2A9%2Asqrt%2823%29=18%2Asqrt%2823%29
That must be added to the
2%2A12%29 square feet of canvas = 24 square feet of canvas for front and back.
For the mathematically exact answer, you will need
24%2B18%2Asqrt%2823%29 square feet of canvas (about 110.325 square feet of canvas).
Of course, the practical answer will be that you need more for seams and flaps, and whatnot.