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Wrapping Around the World
Suppose a string is wrapped around the Earth at the equator. (Assume the Earth is a sphere with a smooth surface.) Now pretend that we pull the string outward from the earth's surface so that the string is always one-inch away from the earth's surface all the way around the equator. How much more string will be needed to complete this new circle?
(Source: Fostering Children's Mathematical Power. An Investigative Approach to K-12 Mathematics, Arthur J. Baroody, with Ronald T. Coslick, c. 1998 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.)
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Extensions |
Suppose you added one foot to the string that wrapped snugly around the world. If you made the fit snug except for a small gap, what could fit under the gap?
 Submit your idea for an investigation to InterMath.
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