Question

A circular tabletop is to be cut from a rectangular piece of wood that measures 1.20m by 1.80m what is the radius of the largest tabletop that could be cut?

Answer 1

0.6 m

Explanation:

From the question,

The largest table top that could be cut from a rectangular piece of wood,

will have a diameter equal to the smallest dimension of the rectangular piece of wood. As shown in the diagram attached.

If it is cut along the biggest dimension of the rectangular piece of wood, the tabletop won't be circular, rather, it will form a sphere. So the only way the tabletop can be cut out of the rectangular piece of wood to make it circular is to cut it along the smaller dimension of the rectangular piece of wood.

Given, the dimensions of the rectangular piece of wood as 1.2 m by 1.8 m.

Then the diameter of the table top formed = 1.2 m.

but,

radius = diameter/2

radius = 1.2/2

radius = 0.6 m

Hence, the radius of the largest tabletop that could be cut out of the rectangular piece of wood is 0.6 m