This installment of Word Problem Wednesday goes out to all of you attending fun birthday parties this summer! Solve our word problem below, and check back tomorrow for the answer.
Sammy is wrapping a birthday gift and wants to find out how much ribbon he’ll need. He wants to wrap the ribbon all the way around the gift box twice, then have an extra 11/2 feet of ribbon for the bow on top. If the gift box is a cube that is 15 inches wide, how many inches of ribbon will he need?
Update: Here's the solution!
To go all the way around the box, the ribbon covers 15 inches, 4 times. That’s 60 inches. To wrap the ribbon all the way around the box twice, Sammy needs 60 × 2 = 120 inches of ribbon. For the bow, he’ll need another 11/2 feet, or 18 inches. Altogether, that’s 120 + 18 inches of ribbon.
