Gina's Beautiful Quilt Challenge

Whenever my nephews, Barney and Danny, and my niece, Gina, come to visit, it seems we always end up doing something mathematical. Barney and I love to do Sudoku puzzles together which require us to use numbers and logic. Since Danny loves to eat, we usually try out new recipes, where we have to use fractions and measurement. Recently Gina and I have taken up a new hobby – quilting, which requires a good bit of measurement and geometry.

We just finished our first quilt project, using scraps of material I had left over from other projects to make a quilt for Gina's doll bed. Gina helped piece all the squares together and I helped her sew them on the machine. When it was finished it looked just like this.

As soon as Gina cut the last thread, she ran to show her new quilt to her cousins, who were playing in the next room.

"Wow!" said Danny. "That's cool, Gina!" He stopped to examine the fabric scraps. "Here's my old pajama top material."

"Yes," nodded Gina. There are 16 squares in my quilt and each one is left over from something Aunty made for us. Here is my favorite sun dress!" She said, pointed to a yellow square.

"Hmm.. let me see that a minute," said Barney. "Here's a left over from my old bathrobe! Say, how many squares did you say you had in this quilt, Gina?"

"Sixteen. I counted them all so I know, its sixteen," said Gina.

"That's right. There are four rows and each row has four squares so it has to be sixteen. I know because I am learning multiplication," added Danny.

"Well, I hate to be one to disagree, but I think you have more than sixteen squares on that quilt!" said Barney, winking, "And I'll bet Aunty will agree with me!"

What do you think? Are there more than 16 squares on Gina's doll quilt? If so, how many squares can you find?

After you think about this awhile, be sure to show an adult your solution and talk with them about it. They may be surprised at how you thought about it. They might have thought about it a different way that might surprise you too. Its always interesting to see how different people think about math problems. Remember, the best way is the way that makes sense to you!

Aunt Mathilda

I'm a parent/teacher and want to review parent/teacher tips for this challenge!

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Aunty Math problems, copyright 2003, Angela G. Andrews You may download, print and make copies of "Aunt Mathilda's Math Challenges" for use in your classroom provided that you include the copyright notice shown on that page with all copies.

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