help:
Alex is cutting a block of wood into 4 smaller pieces to make a square picture frame out of the 4 pieces of wood. He wants each piece of wood to be in the shape of a a rectangular prism and have a length of 40cm, a height of 4cm, and a depth of 6cm. A) What is the total volume of the wood used in the frame? B) What are the minimum dimensions the block needs to be in order for Alex to have enough wood to cut it into 4 smaller pieces?

Question

help:
Alex is cutting a block of wood into 4 smaller pieces to make a square picture frame out of the 4 pieces of wood.  He wants each piece of wood to be in the shape of a a rectangular prism and have a length of 40cm, a height of 4cm, and a depth of 6cm.  A)  What is the total volume of the wood used in the frame?  B) What are the minimum dimensions the block needs to be in order for Alex to have enough wood to cut it into 4 smaller pieces?

phi · Answer

did you try to draw a figure?

phi · Answer

this page gives the formula for the volume of a rectangular prism http://math.about.com/od/formulas/ss/surfaceareavol_4.htm no divide by 2

phi · Answer

did you find the volume of one of the 4 pieces ?

anonymous · Answer

Yeah it's 960

phi · Answer

so can you find the answer for (a) What is the total volume ?

phi · Answer

I would hope it's clear that all 4 pieces are the same volume, so multiply by 4 to get the total volume

anonymous · Answer

Soa is 3840 because u have ti multiply 960 by 4

anonymous · Answer

Thn what's b

phi · Answer

yes 
$$ 3840 \text{ cm}^3 $$
cubic centimeters.  also abbreviated cc so
3840 cc is another way to write it.

phi · Answer

B) What are the minimum dimensions the block needs to be in order for Alex to have enough wood to cut it into 4 smaller pieces?

This sounds a bit like a jig saw puzzle.  Imagine you had the 4 pieces of wood, already cut, and you glue them back together.

Personally I would sketch a picture of one piece.  then try different ways of gluing them together.

anonymous · Answer

I don't understand you

phi · Answer

Do you have a general idea what one piece of wood looks like?

anonymous · Answer

Yeah a rectangular prism

phi · Answer

lots of things are rectangular.  This one is relatively long compared to its width and height.   Imagine you were packing these 4 pieces in the shed.  How would you stack them together so they don't take up a lot of space ?

anonymous · Answer

Up and down

phi · Answer

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phi · Answer

if you put them end to end to end to end you would get something 160 cm long, but only 4 x 6 .
you could put them side by side
or you could put one on top of the other
or you could put one next to the other, and the other two on top of the first two.

Think about those different ways and see if you can figure out the width and height of each way.

anonymous · Answer

Help I'm Seriusly
 lost

anonymous · Answer

Please help

phi · Answer

Let's solve the problem using 4 deck of cards.
If you had 4 deck of cards, how would you pack them to take up as little space as possible?

anonymous · Answer

Stack them up

phi · Answer

that sounds good.  what about 4 thick books, all the same size ?

phi · Answer

I think with real thick books you might want to put 2 next to each other, and the other 2 on top.

phi · Answer

does that make sense?

phi · Answer

If you stack them up, how high will the stack be ?  how wide?  how long?

phi · Answer

Can someone at home help you with this one ?  It is easier to do looking at a real object.

anonymous · Answer

2times  Width and two times length

anonymous · Answer

I don't have anyone

phi · Answer

OK, I'll draw the possible ways
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