Originally Posted by ec_bb
Kevin is using wooden rods to make picture frames. The length and width of one picture frame and the length of one wooden rod are shown below:

(diagram of a rectangle with dimensions of 10 inches and 8 inches marked, and a single wooden rod marked with a length of 48 inches)

1) What is the perimeter, inches, of the picture frame?
(straight forward -- no complaints there)

2) How many wooden rods does Kevin need if he makes 4 picture frames like the one above?

Well, the only answer they gave credit for was 3 -- perimeter x 4 divided by 48.

I wonder how many kids did the calculation you explained to arrive at 3, and how many checked to see whether or not you could actually cut 8 10" pieces and 8 8" pieces from 3 48" rods. It turns out you can (if you ignore losses due to the width of your saw blade and sanding... which would require you to use 4 rods in the real world). At least the question authors got that much right.