How many squares for 6 people who want 6 quilts of 6x6 squares?

Hi, Im answered like this>

How many squares for 6 people to have 6 quilts each that are 6x6?

number_people = 6
print(6 ** 2 * number_people)

It has the same solution, but it was still marked as wrong, why?

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Hello @charolareyes89394782.

Welcome to the forum.

6 squares * 6 squares * 6 quilts * 6 people = 6 ** 4 or 1,296 (Correct Answer)

6 ** 2 * number_people = 36 * 6 or 216 (Your Answer)

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I was also stuck on the question, but i think that the question just had too many 6 and it got kind of confusing.
Thanks for the comment btw.

Were there less 6’s it wouldn’t change the math, only we would be less able to simplify using the exponent laws. When learners are so young they have not yet been exposed to these laws, it is expected they will find difficulty in a problem that explores them.

a ^ n  =>  a X a X a ... n times

so,

6 * 6 * 6 * 6  =>  6 ** 4
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I did:
print(((6 ** 2) * 6) * 6)

I thought using variables made it easier visualise

quilt_size = (6 ** 2)
quilts_per_person = 6
number_of_people = 6
print (quilt_size * quilts_per_person * number_of_people)
1296
10 Likes

Exactly what i did, but without some of the parenthesis.
6 people need quilts
each person needs 6 quilts
each quilt has 6**2 squares
therefore answer (total number of squares needed to create all quilts) would be 6 * 6 * (6 ** 2) = 1296

where the first 6 = number of people that need quilts.
the 2nd 6 = number of quilts needed per person.

Read the question explicitly do not think beyond the question and the requirement of using “**”

Question 1

Using the exponent operator, print out how many squares you’ll need for a 6x6 quilt, a 7x7 quilt, and an 8x8 quilt.

this is asking you to do the same thing as the previous lesson L x W but use “**” that is all they are asking here.

Answer:

Calculation of squares for:

  • 6x6 quilt
    print ( 6 ** 2 )
  • 7x7 quilt
    print ( 7 ** 2 )
  • 8x8 quilt
    print ( 8 ** 2 )

Question 2
How many squares for 6 people to have 6 quilts each that are 6x6?

Lets break this down using “**”

  • 6 ** 2 = 36 (squares per quilt)
  • you need 6 per person (216 squares per person)
  • 6 people 216 * 6 ( A total of 1296 squares)

Answer:
print ( 6 ** 4 )

# Calculation of squares for:
# 6x6 quilt 
print ( 6 ** 2 )
# 7x7 quilt
print ( 7 ** 2 )
# 8x8 quilt
print ( 8 ** 2 )
# How many squares for 6 people to have 6 quilts each that are 6x6?
print ( 6 ** 4 )
4 Likes

absolutely correct!!

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I think the purpose in this case is training in scripting exponents. If 6 people each want 6 quilts which are 6 quilt squares long and 6 quilt squares wide and you need to know how many quilt squares you need, then you need 6 * 6 * 6 * 6, which is mathmatically equivalent to 6^4 -or- 6 to the power of 4, 6 * 6 * 6 *6 = 6^4, in Python that is written 6 ** 4.

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Thanks, well explained
Your 6x6 quilts have taken off so well,( 6 PEOPLE HAVE EACH REQUESTED 6 QUILTS) is the key words in the sentence.

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yes the variables made it much easier!!!

This is exactly how I thought of the problem. It seems really shortsighted to do (6 ** 4) when you could potentially have a change to the number of customers or something similar. If you wanted to get a short, quick answer like 6^4, one could just use a calculator and not take advantage of the power of a programming language, haha. As you said, both are correct, but I think that a programmer would typically think the way that you and I did and try to account for future changes or possible tweaks. Glad I wasn’t alone in this! I’d probably suggest that most people use (6 ** 2 * 6 * 6), but I am sure there is a reason one might want to use the shortened version, especially if there aren’t any changes that will happen to the formula later down the line.

I think the wording should be 6 people want 6 quilts each how many square should there be.

2 Likes

But would it not be better to take the output and use that output to find out the total. What I mean is if you know you have 6*6= answer then you take (answer * number of quilts) the total number

Rather than trying to do this in a one-liner, and also so we get to use exponents and variables, this is how I like to do it.

Firstly set the variable of the quilt size you want

quilt_6x6 = 6 ** 2

Then set a variable showing the quantity of quilts you’re after

quantity = 6 * 6

Now you just need to times the variables by each other to get your result

print(quilt_6x6 * quantity)

Hope this helps.

2 Likes

Thank You! This makes sense now!

1 Like

I really made mine complicated them haha

How many squares for 6 people to have 6 quilts each that are 6x6?

quilt_6x6 = 6**2
print(((quilt_6x6)*6)*6)

Hello @web2058166189, welcome to the forums. The way you do it is correct, and if the exercise asks for it, then do it, but if you wanted to know how many squares there were in the easiest, quickest way, you could use exponents **:

print(6 ** 4)#This is the same as print(6 * 6 * 6 * 6) 

Or, if you wanted to use a variable, you could have done it this way:

quilt_6x6 = 6**2
print((quilt_6x6 ** 2)) #This is the same as *6 *6