There was a 6 square foot piece of wrapping paper for a birthday present. it takes 3 3/8 square feet of the paper to wrap the present. how many pieces of 6 square-foot paper are needed to wrap 3 of these presents?

The answer is 2 pieces of paper.

This can be solved using the proportion.
For one present we need 3 3/8 square feet which is the same as 27/8 square feet:


If 27/8 square feet are needed for 1 present, how many square feet are needed for 3 presents:
27/8 : 1 = x : 3
After crossing the products:
x = 27/8 * 3 = 81/8

For 3 presents we need 81/8 square feet.
The second equation should look like this:
If 1 piece of paper is 6 square foot big, how many pieces of paper will be 81/8 square feet big:
1 : 6 = x : 81/8
After crossing the products:
6x= 81/8
⇒ 
is almost 2, therefore, for 3 presents two 6 square foot pieces of the paper are needed.

The correct awnser is 29.76 pounds.