Question

My little brother has a new playmat made up of 26 individual foam squares. Each piece is 1 square foot in size. If the mat were laid with all 26 pieces in a straight line, end to end, what would the perimeter be?

Answer 1

The perimeter of the 26 foam squares laid end to end is 54 feet, taking into account the length of all sides of the shape created when the squares are lined up.

Step-by-step explanation:

When we are asked to calculate the perimeter of a shape that is laid out in a straight line, we need to make sure to take into account both the length and the width for each of the 26 squares.

Since each foam square is 1 square foot in size and they are laid end to end in a line, the length of this shape would be 26 feet long. However, since each square has a width, we need to consider this as well. The width would be 1 foot, which is the size of each square. Therefore, to find the perimeter, we must add the length of all sides together. The top and bottom lengths are 26 feet each, and the sides are 1 foot each.

The perimeter is calculated as the sum of all these sides: 26 feet + 1 foot + 26 feet + 1 foot, which equals 54 feet.