23 Jefferson and Victor were sent by their company to work in Washington D.C. and Beijing respectively. Jefferson rented a 696 sq ft apartment in Washington D.C. for 1800 USD while Victor rented a 60 m^2 apartment in Beijing for 8000 CNY. Given that the currency exchange rate for both cities is 1 USD = 7.25 CNY and that 1 m^2 = 10.7639 sq ft, illustrate with clear working, which apartment has a higher rental cost. Answer

1. Find Jefferson's rental cost per square foot.

For Jefferson,
$\text{cost per sq ft}=\frac{1800}{696}=2.586\ldots\text{ USD/sq ft}$

2. Convert Victor's rent and area into the same units as Jefferson's.

For Victor,
$8000\text{ CNY}=8000\div 7.25=1103.448\ldots\text{ USD}$
$60\text{ m}^2=60\times 10.7639=645.834\text{ sq ft}$

3. Find Victor's rental cost per square foot and compare.

For Victor,
$\text{cost per sq ft}=\frac{1103.448\ldots}{645.834}=1.7085\ldots\text{ USD/sq ft}$
Since $2.586\ldots>1.7085\ldots$, Jefferson's apartment has the higher rental cost per sq ft.