JulyFreedommath

Jul 8, 2015 | Eagan

Happy Fourth of July!

 

 

We're so excited to celebrate the 4th of July, and we wish you a very happy holiday weekend with friends and family! Of course, we can't resist leaving you with a brainbuster of a word problem before the long weekend. Can you solve our Independence Day math problem?

 

When Betsy Ross made the first flag, it had 13 stars and 13 stripes to represent the 13 states when the Declaration of Independence was signed. For one of her first flags, she had a 20 foot by 13 foot white cloth. She put a 7 foot by 7 foot blue square in the upper right corner. She then cut out the 13 star shapes from the blue fabric, taking out 1 square foot of blue fabric for each star. She then cut four 13 foot by 1 foot and three 20 foot by 1 foot red stripes and placed them 1 foot apart so that the flag would alternate red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red. What is the area of the flag that showed white?