MATHEMATICAL QUESTION AND ANSWER

[chstel06]

The members of a group of packaging designers of a gift shop are looking for a precise procedure to make an open rectangular box with a volume of 560 cubic inches from a 24-inch by 18-inch rectangular piece of material. The main problem is how to identify the side of identical squares to be cut from the four corners of the rectangular sheet so that such box can be made. What will you do to meet the specifications needed for the box? Show a mathematical solution.​

 

[R.M.]

Sketch a picture of the rectangle, then remove a square from each corner. What do the sides of the squares represent when you create the box? How do you find the volume of a rectangular box? Answer these two questions, and you will answer your own.