Ahmed Alonze

Toms Goat:
Toms family goat liked to jump their fence and eat grass in their neighbours yard. Toms dad told the kids that he would have a contest to see which child could solve this problem most efficiently. He asked his children to find the best possible place to tie the goat so that it would eat the most grass in their square yard. He reminded the kids that the total length of their fence was 600 feet. He gave the children some rope and a stake to tie the goat to. Please help toms win the contest by answering and explaining the following questions: Where should the stake is placed so that the goat will eat the most grass? How long should the rope be, and how much space will the goat have to eat grass? How much grass will have to be mowed?

Bonus: If the lawn mower cuts 15,000 square inches in 1 minutes, about how many hours are needed to cut the remainder of the grass?

Teaching Tips:
Have students practice or discuss the idea of maximizing space. They need to understand that, by using a stake and a rope, the shape made is a circle. Therefore, knowing the formula for the area of a circle is vital to solving the task. Students should be familiar with finding areas of both rectangles and circles. Some of my students got to the point of knowing the area in which the goat ate grass, but they had trouble determining what was left. The greatest challenge came when solving the bonus. Some students who found the area in square feet tried unsuccessfully to convert to square inches. See the teaching tips in the task "An Architect Needed!" for ideas on how to teach students this concept. Finally, the last question in the task asks for an estimate. Many students wanted to give me an exact number. It is a good idea to discuss what about how many means.

Ahmed Alonze

Suggested Materials:
Graph paper Calculators

Possible Solutions:
The stake should be placed in the middle of the square yard. The rope should be 75 feet long, and the goat will be able to eat grass in an area of 17,662.5 square feet (using the pi approximation 3.14). The remaining area of 4,837.5 square feet will still have to be mowed. It will take about an hour (69.66 minutes) to mow. FYI: Area of yard: 22,500 square feet; 3,240,000 square inches Area of circle: 17,662.5 square feet; 2,543,400 square inches Area of leftover yard: 4,837.5 square feet; 696,600 square inches The exact time needed to cut the grass is 1.16 hours.