Question

Carter needs to wrap seven presents. He lays the ribbon out flat and says that I'll have just enough pieces if I make six equally spaced cuts, I can use one piece for each package. And I won't have any pieces left over. Does he have enough pieces to wrap all the presents?

Answer 1

Yes, he has enough pieces to wrap the present

Explanation:

Given

`Presents = 7`

`Cuts = 6`

Required

Is there enough pieces to wrap all presents

As a general rule;

When a piece is cut in 1 place, you get 2 pieces

When a piece is cut in 2 places, you get 3 pieces

When a piece is cut in 3 place, you get 4 pieces

This implies that:

n cuts gives n + 1 pieces

i.e.

`n \to n + 1`

So, we have:

`6\ cuts \to (6 + 1) pieces`

`6\ cuts \to 7\ pieces`

Hence, there are enough pieces.