Over lunch, we were talking about how student's never believe that they will use math in real life. This is a problem an English teacher in our school was describing to me. I decided to use it as a warm up with my geometry and algebra students. I added some elements to make the problem more complex, and I could even add an element for sales tax and labor costs. Students need to be familiar with the formula for the area of a circle, as well as basic arithmetic. I added a question to get their number sense skills working as well. This problem covers geometry and measurement, number sense and critical thinking. I made this problem with the FCAT in mind, for you Florida teachers. I would use it as a warm up with my regular students and as a full day problem with my remedial kids.

Vanessa Moon