A contractor buys 8.2 square feet of sheet metal. She used 2.1 square feet so far and has $183 worth of sheet metal remaining. Write and solve an equation to find out how much sheet metal costs per square foot.

Given that total amount of metal in the beginning = 8.2 square feet

Given that used amount of metal = 2.1 square feet

Then remaining amount of metal = (8.2-2.1) = 6.1 square feet

Now it says that "$183 worth of sheet metal remaining".

That means cost of 6.1 square feet is $183.

Let cost of 1 square feet of the metal = x

Then cost of 6.1 square feet of the metal = 6.1x

Both expressions 6.1x and $183 represent the cost of the remaining metal so the required equation will be:

6.1x=183

Now we can solve it to find the solution

x=183/6.1

x=30

So the cost per square feet of the metal = $30

Hence final answer is $30 per square feet.

Step-by-step explanation

8.2 - 2.1 = 6.1

$183 / 6.1 = $30 for one sq. ft.

Just to make sure:

8.2 * $30 = $246

$246 / 8.2 = $30

So the contractor originally had 8.2 sq ft of metal and it was worth 246 so to find how much it cost you have to divide 8.2 and 246 which is 30 per sq ft.