Thread: surface area and formulas

A sculptor works with large wooden cuboids (rectangular prisms), cuts them into three smaller cuboids and then paints them black, white and grey. The volume of the black cuboid is always twice the volume of the white one and the volume of the white cuboid is always twice the volume of the grey one.

The cuts are always parallel to the face marked with w and h. We will always denote the surface areas of the separated cuboids by A1 (black) , A2 (white) and A3 (grey).


Q: The sculptor decides she would like to have A1:A3 = 4:3. If this is to be the case, find the formula linkin l,w and h and give an example of the dimensions of a cuboid, before it is cut, for which this will work.

thank you heaps

Originally Posted by helpmaths

A sculptor works with large wooden cuboids (rectangular prisms), cuts them into three smaller cuboids and then paints them black, white and grey. The volume of the black cuboid is always twice the volume of the white one and the volume of the white cuboid is always twice the volume of the grey one.

The cuts are always parallel to the face marked with w and h. We will always denote the surface areas of the separated cuboids by A1 (black) , A2 (white) and A3 (grey).


Q: The sculptor decides she would like to have A1:A3 = 4:3. If this is to be the case, find the formula linkin l,w and h and give an example of the dimensions of a cuboid, before it is cut, for which this will work.

thank you heaps

this question was asked by another user and was answered here

yes. i have looked at that answer.but i still don't quite get it. i would really appreciate if someone could assist me with this maths problem.
thank you