If the wall needs 2.5 strips of wallpaper, how many whole strips must the homeowner purchase?

When determining how many whole strips of wallpaper the homeowner must purchase, it's important to consider that fractions of items cannot be bought in a partial quantity. If the wall requires 2.5 strips of wallpaper, this indicates that two whole strips are not enough to complete the project, and an additional half strip is also needed.

Since wallpaper typically comes in whole strips, the homeowner must round up any fractional requirement to the next whole number. In this case, 2.5 strips rounded up becomes 3 strips. Therefore, the homeowner needs to purchase 3 whole strips of wallpaper to ensure they have enough to cover the wall completely. This rounding up to the nearest whole number is essential in practical scenarios where only entire units can be bought or used.