I need to figure out an area for landscaping glass. THere are four separate sections 21 feet 7 inches by 6 inches. 26 feet 4 inches by 7 inches. 12 feet by 12 inches and 14 feet 8 inches by 10 inches. If I need 7lbs of product per square foot how much product would I need?

Hint:

Do areas of each section with length and width in units of feet. Area (sqft) = L(ft) x W(ft)

26'4" becomes 26'+4/12 feet or 26.75 feet as a decimal.

OOPs: 4/12 = 1/4 = 0.25 as pointed out.
So 26'4" becomes 26'+4/12 feet or 26.25' as a decimal. Thanks.

its much easier to solve if you turn all the feet into inches first... example 21 feet 7 inches =259 inches

My answer was 50 ft 4 inches. Is this correct? Then with 7lbs per square foot I need 352.38 lbs of glass?

Basically you've got it, with some little rounding things.

It's actually 50.375 feet, which is 50 feet, 4.5 inches. 50.375 x 7 = 352.625, which would round up to 353.

My only concern would be is if you got the 50 feet 4 inches by trying to round 50.375 to 5.4 and then turning that into 50'4".

26'4" becomes 26'+4/12 feet or 26.75 feet as a decimal.

Considering your "expert"ness, I hope you hadn't had your coffee yet. :p

That's what happens when it's bedtime+migraine+severe allergies. Thanks.

6/12, 4/12, 8/12 and 12/12 of an inch is supposed to be easy. 1/2, 1/4, 3/4 and 1 or 0.5, 0.25, 0.75 and 1.

7/12 is a bit messy at 0.5833333 or 0.583

It's usually easier working with smaller numbers.

Having the correct units makes a big difference.

It actually took me a few times reading that to catch it. :-)

I just converted it all to inches cause all the decimal versions came out icky. And then tried to divide by 12 to convert it back, instead of 144. Took me a while to figure out why that doesn't work. LOL. (It was my bedtime too.)