Year 9 Maths

Problem Solving Task

Redesigning the Smarties Box.
The Smarties company is experimenting with new dimensions for its Smarties box. They want to keep
the same box design, and have the same amount of chocolate, but they are trying to reduce the amount
of cardboard they use – it’s expensive.
The Smarties box, before it gets folded up and glued, is shown in the diagram below. Note the extra
bits used for gluing. In this project, the boxes always have square ends.

You will be exploring different dimensions for the box, and comparing the volume and area of
cardboard for different boxes. You will be preparing a report with some diagrams, some models, some
mathematics, and some computer work. Note that all measurements are in cm, or cm 2, or cm3.

You will need to prepare a report of your investigation that must include an INTRODUCTION and a
CONCLUSION. The questions following will form the body of the project. The project will be
marked on five criteria: Tables, Calculations, Graphs, Discussion and Presentation. Notes for
completion are on the wiki.

1. Use 1cm grid paper, or plain light cardboard, to make a box with length = 10cm, and
width = 3cm. Fold it up to convince yourself that it makes a box with bits that could be glued.
Attach this to your project. Find the volume of the box and the area of the cardboard used.

Q1
V=3X3X10
V=90CM3
A = 3X3X4
A = 36 + 10 X 3 X 5
A = 186CM2

2. Construct another box with the same general shape. That is, choose different values of l and w.
Again, fold it, unfold it, attach to your project. Find the volume of this box and the area of the
cardboard.

Q2
L=4
W=2
V=2x2x4
V=16cm3

A= 2x2x4 = 16
A= 5x2x4 = 40
A= 40cm2

3. The table below shows a variety of lengths and widths for possible boxes. Calculate the volume
and area for each box. (So you can check: the volume of the first box is 10cm 3, the area of the
cardboard used to make it is 54cm2). Show working out for one line of the table.

w l volume area
1 10 1x1x10=10cm3 5x1x10= 50
4x1x1= 4
= 54cm2
2 10 2x2x10=40cm3 5x2x10= 100
4x2x2= 16
= 116cm2
3 10 3x3x10=90cm3 5x3x10=150
4x3x3= 36
= 186cm2

4 10 4x4x10=160cm3 5x4x10= 200

4x4x4= 64
= 264cm2
5 10 5x5x10=250cm3 5x5x10= 250
4x5x5= 100
= 350cm2

4. Draw a graph on graph paper that shows the volume of these different boxes. Set up the axes as
shown. Include this graph in your report. Give your graph a heading, label the axis and write a
sentence explaining what the graph shows.

This graph portrays the volume and width of the boxes. We observed a curved line growing the more
the width increases.
5. Draw another graph on graph paper that shows the area of these different boxes. Set up the axes
as shown. Give your graph a heading, label the axis and write a sentence explaining what the
graph shows. Include this graph in your report.

This graph demonstrates the increasing area of the boxes as the width of those boxes increases. The line
is almost linear, though some small inconsistencies prevent this from being the case.

6. There’s an idea that the total of the length and the width should be 10, and that these boxes might
have different volumes. These values of l and w are shown in the table below. Calculate the
volume for each of these boxes. Show working out for two lines of the table.

w l volume
1 9 1x1x9 = 9cm3
2 8 2x2x8 = 32cm3
3 7 3x3x7 = 63cm3
4 6 4x4x6 = 96cm3
5 5 5x5x5 = 125cm3
6 4 6x6x4 = 144cm3
7 3 7x7x3 = 147cm3
8 2 8x8x2 = 128cm3
9 1 9x9x1 = 81cm3

7. Draw a graph on graph paper that shows the volume of these different boxes. Set up the axes as
shown. Give your graph a heading, label the axis and write a sentence explaining what the graph
shows. Include this graph in your report.

This graph shows the fluctuation in volume as the width increases. The line takes the form of a bell
curve.

8. Which of the boxes in the table above has the greatest volume?

The box with Length: 3cm, and Width: 7cm

The volume is 147cm3

9. Find a general formula for the volume (V) of a box with length l and width w. Use this formula
to calculate the volume of a box with l = 5, and w = 2.
Formula:
V=wxwxl
V=2x2x5
V = 20cm3

10. Transpose this formula to make l the subject. Use this formula to calculate the length of a box
with w = 4, and V = 100.

L = V ÷ w2
L = 100 ÷ 42
L = 6.25cm

11. The Smarties company wants any new box to have the same volume as the original box, that is,
90cm3. If a box had a width of 2cm, calculate the length required.
L = 90 ÷ 22
L = 22.5cm

12. Use this type of calculation to complete the table below, where all boxes have a volume of
90cm3. Show working out for one line of the table.

w l
1 L = V÷12

2
3
4
5

13. On graph paper, graph the data from the table. Give your graph a heading, label the axis and write
a sentence explaining what the graph shows.

14. Now we will do some analysis using a spreadsheet program such as excel or google docs.
In Excel, create a width column and type in widths from 0.5cm to 6cm going up in 0.5cm intervals.
Next to this, create a length column. Use your work from Q11 and 12 to create a general formula to
work out the length of a box for a given width, so the box has a volume of 90cm 3. Enter this
formula into excel so the program calculates the required lengths for each width.
Select the column headings (the words at the top of the columns) and data for w and l and use the Excel
graphing function (from Insert > Scatter) to create an x-y scatter graph of the data you have
produced. Print your spreadsheet – show your working and the graph.
Extend the Excel spreadsheet created above to include another column representing the total surface
area of the cardboard used. Create an area formula and put this into excel for the program now
calculates the area of cardboard used for each box.

Select the headings and data in the spreadsheet for the area (A) and width (w) and create an Excel graph
as shown. Note – you can select two columns which are not next to each other in excel: select the
first column, then hold down the control key as you select the second.

Print this updated version of the spreadsheet, with this graph

15. Use the spreadsheet data and graph to find the dimensions of the box with the lowest possible
area of cardboard. Compared to the original model, how much cardboard do you save per box?