math help Options

[pAtRiCk_sTar]

Err...yeah, i need help, NOT THE ANSWER i just want to know if i'm doing this, uhh...correctly :

A regular newspaper measures 60.96 centimeters by 38.1 centimeters. The largest newspaper was the HetVolk, printed in Belgium in 1993. It measured 142 centimeters by 99.5 centimeters. How many times larger was the area of the HetVolk than a regular newspaper?


So this is what i did:
I made two squares:


I. The first square I labeled
38.1 by 60.96, which is the regular
newspaper. I multiplied them to find
the area and got 2322.576

II. The second square I labeled
142 by 99.5, which is the Hetvolk
newspaper, and multiplied to find
the area and got 14139

Then I divided 14139 by 2322.576 and got 14139/2322.576=6.09 (rounded) or ~6
Am i going about this totally wrong....cause I feel this isn't correct

_______________________
And I'm not quite sure what i'm to do to figure this problem out:

Write down the positive integers as shown below. Which column will contain the number 500?

**1 2 3
6*5 4
**7 8 9
121110

It's hard to position it...The 6 and 12 should be lined up, the 1, 5, 7 and 11 should be lined up, the 2, 4, 8 and 10 should be lined up and the 3 and 9 should be lined up. I'm confused as to how i figure it out...

[innovation]

sorry, i still don't understand what they're asking you. are these supposed to add up to something? where does the 500 come into play? are the asterisks meant to be spaces?

[pAtRiCk_sTar]

sorry, i still don't understand what they're asking you. are these supposed to add up to something? where does the 500 come into play? are the asterisks meant to be spaces?

Yep, they're just spaces. They aren't in the book, but the computer is mean. That's all they tell me....which is wierd.