Question

Stephan has a piece of wood that measures 18 inches long and 12 inches wide. He wants to make a tray with sides 2 inches high. Maurice says that he can make a tray that has a base measuring 101/2 inches by 101/2 inches. Is he correct? Use the drop-down menus to explain your answer.

Answer 1

He is wrong, because for 2 inches of height, the peice of wood for base has smaller width than the width required for the base Maurice wants to make.

Explanation:

Length of wood = 18 inches

Width of wood = 12 inches

If height of the table is needed = 2 inches

2 inches are reduced from each side of the piece of wood.

The new measurement become:

Length of wood = 18 - 2 - 2 inches

Length of wood = 14 inches

Width of wood = 12 - 2 - 2

Width of wood = 8 inches

Maurice wants to make a table with following dimensions:

Base =
`10(1)/(2)\cdot10(1)/(2)`

which means

Length required =
`10(1)/(2) = (21)/(2)=10.5 inches`

Width required =
`10(1)/(2) = (21)/(2)=10.5 inches`

As width is greater than the width of the piece of wood , he cannot make a table of such dimension from it.