Task of the Week: Red Area

In this year’s autumn, numerous tasks were created in Wilhelmsburg, district of Hamburg. The tasks are very convincing – especially in the context of the MCM concept – through their interdisciplinary and thematic diversity, which we would like to illustrate exemplary in our current Task of the Week.

Task: Red area (task number: 1964)

Determine the red area on which the ping-pong table stands. Give the result in m².

It quickly becomes clear that the entire area can not be approximated by a single geometrical object, or that this is only possible with significant losses in accuracy. It is therefore appropriate to divide the area searched into disjoint subspaces, which can be calculated using formulas. This is best done using a drawing. A particular challenge are the curved edges, where estimations and approximations are necessary. According to measurements and calculations, the total area is obtained by adding the area contents of all partial surfaces.

The area can be described using rectangles and triangles. In addition, the principle of the decomposition and additivity of surface content is necessary for solving the problem. The task can be used from class 7 onwards.