Some Sides

You have to make a square-bottomed, box (without a lid,) with a height of three inches and a volume of approximately 42 cubic inches. You will be taking a piece of cardboard, cutting three-inch squares from each corner, scoring between the corners, and folding up the edges. What should be the dimensions of the cardboard, to the nearest quarter inch?

Credit:  Elizabeth Stapal

Be sure to include an explaination of how you solved this and an equation that would be helpful in solving this problem.  Then solve the equation to prove your answer.  Be sure to include all the steps in your solution with the equation.  We should never have to guess what you did or feel like there is a step missing for either your process or your equation.

Are you kidding me?

You are thinking about buying a beautiful new hybrid sedan.  The car is on sale and costs $20,000. You know you are only keeping the car for a couple of years, probably just enough to get yourself through college but it could be longer if you don't get your dream job right out of college. 

You are fortunate enough to be able to pay cash for the car, so there are no pesky payments or interest to worry about when buying your car.  The salesman tells you the car will decreases in value at the rate of 20 percent each year, based on the value at the beginning of the year. At the end of how many years will the value of the car first be less than half the price you are paying for it?  You will need to include your process for determining when it will reach half the value of the purchase price as well as your solution.  There are a couple of ways to detemine the solution.

Further, how long will you keep your car before selling it?  Make sure to include a rational for your decision.  (Keep in mind by the time you buy your next car it will definetly be more expensive than the price you are paying today.) 

Valentine Treats

Valentine Treats



The students in Mr. Sweet’s class exchange valentines with each other. Each student in the class gives a valentine to every student in the class. They do not give a valentine to themselves. Each student also gives a valentine to Mr. Sweets.

The thickness of each valentine is one-sixteenth of an inch. When the students stack all the valentines in one pile, the height of the stack is 5 feet 4 inches.

Mr. Sweets does not give valentines to his students. Instead he gives each student a chocolate candy heart. How many chocolate candy hearts should Mr. Sweets buy?

Be sure to explain your answer completely.  There could be more than one answer to this problem.

Open the PDF called Circles and Triangles. Here is the link to find the actual problem.

Link to Circles and Triangles


This POW may take two periods. Answer all the questions. You will need to use paint for this activity. If you need help let me know. You can put your answers in a word document (make sure to cut and paste your illustrations in the document,) and e-mail to outr math class honors email and entitle it "Seeing Circles." Make sure you name is somewhere in the document. (Not on the picture please.) I will post your responses on our webpage. I will include the link here when they are uploaded.

Lovely job on your solutions.  To compare your solutions you can go to our website or you can click on the link below:


YOUR SOLUTIONS