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Problem of the Week
Problem A
Making Plans

Mr. Lee’s Grade 4 class is going to create a play area for their school’s daycare that includes a picnic table and a sandbox. They want square foam tiles under the entire play area (even under the sandbox and under the picnic table). There will be a rubber trim surrounding the play area to keep the tiles in place.

This is a picture of their plan. Each small square represents one square foam tile.

The play area is rectangular. The area is covered with twelve rows of identical square tiles with seven tiles in each row. The picnic table and sandbox are placed in opposite corners of the play area.

  1. How many foam tiles do the students need to complete this job?

  2. If each foam tile is \(0.5\) m by \(0.5\) m, how many metres of rubber trim is needed to surround the entire play area?