Please help solve a math question

[WorraLiberty]

I want to cover 97.5 square meters of garden in decking tiles.

Each tile measures 30 x 30cm.

How many tiles do I need please before I throw the bastard calculator at the cat and burn the fucking garden? 😐

48 x 25 feet = 14.63 x 7.62 metres
If a tile is 30cm long that garden needs 49 tiles along
If a tile is 30cm wide that garden needs 26 tiles across
49 x 26 tiles = 1,274 tiles

So you will need at least 1300 tiles.

That is a large area you are doing!

@Bimblybomeyelash

There has surely got to be a better solution than covering the whole garden in plastic?

Thanks all

Well it's not the whole garden really, as there'll be a 3ft border with shrubs all round the edge.

It's either that or patio slabs really. The garden is very shady and because of the dogs, the grass doesn't grow well, therefore it's muddy in the winter and dusty in the Summer.

Lots of people are getting fake grass. Would that be an option?

The boarder alone is approx 44 m2, take that off your 100m2 and you have greatly reduced the area just by measuring it properly

[quote Gwenhines]@HarrietLong also.
Think of 0.3 as 3 / 10.
So
0.3 X 0.3 is the same as
(3 / 10) X (3 / 10)
0r
(3 X 3)/ (10x10)
So
9/100 = 0.09.

There's loads of YouTube videos that will explain it better than that though[/quote]
Thanks for your explanation @Gwenhines.

I am familiar with the concept of multiplying a starting number by a number less than 1, producing a smaller number than the starting number. But am confused by it in this context. How can multiplying length (0.3m) by width (0.3m), make a smaller number of square metres (0.09) than either the length or width we started with?

Composite decking isn't that hard wearing... I have it and scratched it moving a chair. I would rethink too! Sorry, I know you didn't ask for opinions but a huuuuge slab of decking is not going to look nice even with a border (and straight borders are really boring!)

HarrietLong
Maybe think of everything in the same ‘denomination’ so to speak. So when you say 0.09 is less than 0.3 - you’re moving from cm to cm2. Also cm to m2.
0.3m x 0.3m = 30cm x 30cm = 900 cm2
( so yes, area = length x width) however, then think about a m2, so
1m x 1m = 100cm x 100cm = 10,000 cm2
900/10,000 = 0.09 = 0.3 x 0.3
I have to visualise things to get my head round it all!

because it’s a square metre so conceptually you need fit 0.3 sam squares both vertically and horizontally to fill the whole sq metre

• so imagine a board of 1m x 1m

• so you could fit 3.3 x 0.3sqm squares horizontally but you would have only filled the top row of the board
• you would then repeat this vertically down the board 3.3 times
• so altogether you have 3.3 x 3.3 (10.89) of the 0.3m squares on the grid

• or alternatively each 0.3m square comprises 1/10.89 of the board ie 0.09 of the total area of the 1 sq m board.

@Cocksinsocks

Composite decking isn't that hard wearing... I have it and scratched it moving a chair. I would rethink too! Sorry, I know you didn't ask for opinions but a huuuuge slab of decking is not going to look nice even with a border (and straight borders are really boring!)

Thanks for the advice re scratching! If a chair did that then the dogs will do much worse.

To be honest, nothing is going to look really nice except proper patio slabs but I just need to do something to stop the dogs traipsing mud in or causing a dust storm

@dementedpixie we did think about astro turf but I think the stupid dogs will try to dig it up

@Confusedaboutlots thank you.

And thanks to everyone else

Hey Op
Not what you asked for I know but we just replaced our grass with fake turf because it was always so wet and muddy and because of our rescue dogs. They dug up everything and the garden was a mess. It looks great! We've kept a slabbed and gravelled area at the back for if they need a wee between walks. The astro is attatached to the floor so they can't/won't be able to dig it up. Also because it's plastic they just aren't interested in it in the way they are with natural material so don't toilet on it or sniff/dig at all. It warms up beautifully in the sun and they use it like a warm rug. I was scepital but I'm happy with it now.

Given that you are allowing for a border anyway you don't need to muck around with cutting tiles, so instead of the 49x26 calculated correctly by @DancesWithDaffodils for if you were tiling up to a fixed limit, you could happily just use 48x25 = 1200 tiles and not bother with any cutting, just adding a few cm to the border.

Tarmac or that resin stuff as normally used for drives? Or imprinted concrete?

See if any of your local suppliers have any colours/designs that look less 'driveway' and more 'patio'?

@HarrietLong
How about thinking of it like multiplying fractions? I tried to explain it like that in my other message.
So 0.3m is 3tenths of a metre.
0.3 X 0.3
Is
3/10 X 3/10
It's hard to write the numerator so that it sits literally on top of the denominator on here but I'll try

3 3
X
10 10

So when multiplying fractions you multiply numerators together and denominators together.

So you get 9/100 which is 0.09.
And the units are metres multiplied by metres so metres squared or m^2.

Could you not move to a duplex apartment with a roof garden? That would save a lot of decking work.

30x30cm = 1 foot X 1 foot squares.
48x25feet = 1200 tiles.

I'd seriously go for something else.