Lidia,

Imagine that you are going to cover the parking lot with tiles that are 1 metre by 1 metre, just like you were tiling a kitchen floor. You might start along one of the long sides and lay down 500 tiles. Then start a second row beside the row you have just completed. Then move to the next row until you have completed covering the parking lot.

You have put down 100 rows of 500 tiles, each tile covering 1 square metre. How many tiles did you use? How many square metres is that?

Penny