Question 15 practice exam 3

An architect is helping their client determine the budget required for a project. The project has an estimated gross building area of 805,377 square feet and an estimated cost of $153 per square foot. The architect is estimating an additional 15% for site development and 8% for fixed equipment.

What is the estimated total cost of construction? Round to the nearest whole dollar.

$
151564
Incorrect - the answer is 151563898

Total construction cost = building costs + site development + fixed equipment

Building cost = gross area x unit cost = 805,377 sf. x $153 = $123,222,681
Site development = 15% of building cost = .15 x $123,222,681 = 18,483,402.15
Fixed equipment = 8% of building cost = .08 x $123,222,681 = $9,857,814.48

$123,222,681 + 18,483,402.20 + $9,857,814.48 = $151,563,898

Please review the question and answer, the question is asking to round to the nearest “whole dollar” so why would 151,564 be wrong answer?

Thank you

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Hi @ylouka ,

The total answer was $151,563,897.68 without rounding.
Rounding to the nearest whole dollar the answer is $151,563,898. To get the nearest whole dollar you round up from the decimal.

The answer of $151,564 has dropped the ones, tens, and hundreds spots from the answer. This answer of one hundred fifty-one thousand five hundred sixty-four is lower than the building area. We know the answer should be at east 153 times greater than the area since that is the cost per square foot.

If you had responded $151,564,000 - which is rounding to the nearest thousand - the answer would have been flagged as incorrect still as the prompt asks to round to the nearest whole dollar.

Hope this helps!
-Darion

Thank you very much Coach Darion for your quick response.
I answered 151564 and the answer was wrong.
May be because of the comma?
Is that how I should answer on the test?
Please see below screenshot.
The answer explanation also does not round to the whole dollar.

Hi @ylouka ,

I edited your post to remove your contact information and the screenshot. I think you probably replied via email so added in your signature automatically.

The correct answer is $151,563,898. It should have been typed out “151563898” - no commas is always best when typing answers. 151564 is incorrect because it drops the one, tens, and hundreds values. It is not rounded to the nearest whole dollar, it is rounded to the nearest thousand after dropping the preceding ones, tens, and hundred values.

The answer explanations shows the answer as rounded to the nearest dollar in the last line. Although, it could have an additional step to show the full answer unrounded and then show the properly rounded answer on the next line. Perhaps that would be clearer - @coachchrishopstock what are your thoughts?

Thanks,
-Darion

Hi @coachdarionziegler thanks for helping @ylouka out with this one! I added a rounding step to our explanation.
Just to be clear - our software will mark the answer correct whether or not you use commas, as long as the value is correct. This is consistent with the actual ARE.

And one more note to be super clear - 151564 is not the same as rounding 151653898 to the nearest thousands - NEVER omit numbers when rounding.

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yes, understood, thank you.

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