Week 237 (25 February 2022)

Poppy is visiting her Grandparents for half-term and has been treated to a small box of sweets.

The box of sweets is a cuboid and has sides of length 4cm, x cm and y cm.

The volume of the cuboid is 119 cm^3

The total surface area of the cuboid is 155.5 cm^2

Given that x is greater than y work out the value of x and the value of y.

Answer:

119 = 4 xy

4x = 119/y

x = 119/ (4y)

2 * (4x) + 2 * (xy) + 2 * (4y) = 155.50

Substituting in:

2 * 119/y + 2 * 119/(4y) * y + 8y = 155.50

Times all terms by y:

238 +59.5 y + 8 y^2 = 155.5 y

8y^2 -96y +238 = 0

4y^2 – 48y + 119 = 0

4 * 119 = 476

Factors:

2

2

17

7

Need to add up to 48:

2 x 17 = 34

2 x 7 = 14

(2y – 7) (2y – 17) = 0

2y = 7 or 2y = 17

y = 3.5 or 8.5

Substituting back in:

x = 119/ (4y)

Therefore:

x = 8.5 (if y = 3.5) or 3.5 (if y = 8.5)

As x > y

x = 8.5cm and y = 3.5cm