Investigations

Materials:

  • copy of the cake templates below (or make your own if you don’t have access to a printer)
  • pencil
  • scissors

Julia is sharing a small rectangular cake with her 2 brothers and 1 sister.
She cuts the cake like this:

rectangle divided into 4 smaller rectangles, 2 narrow rectangles 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom

Is it fair? Is the cake divided equally? Explain your thinking. How much of the cake will each person get?

Possible Questions:

How will you know they are divided equally?
How could you find out if they are the same size?
(students might cut out the pieces to compare or measure the rectangles)

Possible Extension:

a rectangle

How else could you divide the cake equally for Julia, her 2 brothers and 1 sister? How many ways can you find?

Printable Cake Templates