You've just bought a large, rectangular framed poster from a homeware store. The poster, still in its flat, protective packaging, measures 110 cm in length, 60 cm in width, and 4 cm in thickness. Your car's trunk has an opening that measures 90 cm wide and 70 cm high. Once past the opening, the trunk's interior is 130 cm deep. Can you fit the framed poster into your car's trunk?
Correct: Yes, by orienting the package so its 4 cm thickness passes through the trunk opening's 90 cm width.
The trick lies in visualizing the poster's orientation. Most people might instinctively try to fit the poster's longest side (110 cm) through the widest part of the trunk opening (90 cm), which would fail (110 > 90). However, the poster is a 3D object, and it can be rotated.
To fit through the trunk opening (90 cm wide x 70 cm high), we need to find two dimensions of the poster that are less than or equal to these opening dimensions.
If you orient the poster package on its side (like standing a book on its spine), you can align its 4 cm thickness with the 90 cm width of the opening, and its 60 cm width with the 70 cm height of the opening. Let's check these clearances:
- The 4 cm thickness is less than the 90 cm opening width (4 < 90) - Fits!
- The 60 cm width is less than the 70 cm opening height (60 < 70) - Fits!
Once the poster is past the opening, the remaining dimension – its 110 cm length – will go into the trunk's depth. Since the trunk's interior is 130 cm deep, the 110 cm length fits comfortably (110 < 130).
Therefore, by rotating the package on its edge, it can be successfully loaded into the trunk.