[beergarden]

Thanks for the replies.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Technically, all of the cloth will be sold under the roof.
Unless sum of it bolts out the door into the yard.
Where Laz hits it.

[JudgemAll]

36/17 because the 20” remaining from the 60 in width are a loss

[taxcontrol]

Some minor corrections. Fabric is generally 60” but may be 45”. Fractions are applied to the 36” side. So a half yard is normally 18 x 60 but maybe 18 x 45.

[ExGeeEye]

How many liberals does it take to screw up a light bulb? Or a toilet? Or a station wagon? Or gasoline?

Does it matter?

:)

[captain_dave]

A bolt of cloth is often but not always 60 inches wide. Cloth is sold by the linear yard and not by area. So your question makes a false assumption. If you want a half yard, or any other amount, of fabric, tell the clerk at the fabric store and she'll unroll the bolt on a very large table. She will only measure one dimension. She won't consider the bolt's width.

Where did you get this silly question from?

[RainMan]

She should sell by the lineal inch of the bolt. You say that bolts do vary in width, and this creates a simple solution. In your example, you gave a 17 x 42 piece. The 42 obviously came from a bolt that was >42 in, so there would be dross that if she did not sell it, she would lose money. Therefore, lets say the there is a bolt that is 60” wide and 20 yards (720 inches) long. If the entire bolt cost $72, that would be equal to $0.10 per lineal inch. If the subject piece that is 17” came out of this bolt, the charge would be $1.70 or 17 lineal inches x $0.10 / lineal inch. Doing anything to discount because the customer does not want the remainder on the bolt width means that she will end up losing money because SHE had to pay for it, but no customer will buy it.

[bgill]

A 1/3 yard would be sold as her 1/2 yard unit.

[Salvavida]

1/4 yard = 9” 1/3 yard = 12” 1/2 yard = 18” 2/3 yard = 24” 3/4 yard = 27”

Is there anything else I can help you with? (j/k)

[Will88]

" how many stupid liberals does it take to screw a light bulb?

For some of the smarter ones, it takes three. One to hold the light bulb and two to turn the ladder.

[LambSlave]

Let f = 1/4, 1/2, 2/3 and 3/4 (fraction of a yard).

Note that 1 yard = 36 x 60 = 2160 sq inches.

Assume fabric is cut as a rectangle with sides of lenght a & b.

Then for a particular fraction, allowed values of a and b are those such that a*b = (Sqrt(2160)*f)^2

For example, if f = 1/2 yard, then a*b = 540, so if you pick the value of one side (e.g.) a = 18 inches, then the other must be 540/18 = 30. Check, cutting the original piece in half yields this value, so meets our intuition.

[mabarker1]

π are Round.

Cake are square.

I like Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars and Fosters Lager.

[Boogieman]

Well, that “yard” would be 2160 square inches.

So 1/2 a “yard” would be 1080 square inches. 1/4 would be 540 square inches. 3/4 would be 1620 square inches, and 1/3 would be 720 square inches.

To find all the possible whole number factors of those areas, use a calculator, like on this page:

https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/factors-all-tool.html

If you factor 1080, for example, and take out the negative numbers, these are all the whole number factors:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24, 27, 30, 36, 40, 45, 54, 60, 72, 90, 108, 120, 135, 180, 216, 270, 360, 540, 1080

Now to find the combinations of two factors, start from the first and last number and just work inwards. So to get 1080 you can use 1x1080, 2x540, 3x360, 4x270, 5x216, 6x180, 8x135, 9x120, 10x108, 12x90, 15x72, 18x60, 20x54, 24x45, 27x40, or 30x36. So that is how you can determine all the possible sizes you could cut to make exactly one half yard.

If you just want to know how much a given size is in yards, just multiply the length and width and divide the result by 2160.

So 17x42 would be 714 square inches, divided by 2160 is .3306 yards, just under 1/3 of a yard.