November 2021
Problem of the Month

Tiling Problem
Submitted by Brijesh Dave

A room 5 m 44 cm long and 3 m 74 cm wide is to be paved with square tiles (all of the same size).

Determine the least number of square tiles required to exactly cover the floor.
(no tiles may be cut).

Solution to the problem

The answer is 176 tiles.   Each tile has dimensions that are 34 cm by 34 cm.

Convert the measurements all to centimeters, so that the dimensions of the room are 544 cm x 374 cm.

You need to find the largest tile that will exactly fit in both the length and width of the room.
So determine the largest common factor of 544 and 374, which is 34.
34 cm is the side of the tile.

Divide 544 and 374 by 34 to get 16 and 11, the number of tiles on each side of the room.
Therefore, 16 x 11 = 176 tiles needed to pave the floor.

Correctly solved by:

1. Colin (Yowie) Bowey	Beechworth, Victoria, Australia
2. Veena Mg	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
3. Mia Skoble	Berkeley High School, Berkeley, California
4. Dr. Hari Kishan	D.N. College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India
5. Meddora Sheriff	Freetown, Western Area Urban District, Sierra Leone
6. Kelly Stubblefield	Mobile, Alabama
7. Mandala Hari Krishna	Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Send any comments or questions to: David Pleacher