1993 AJHSME Problems/Problem 17

Problem

Square corners, 5 units on a side, are removed from a $20$ unit by $30$ unit rectangular sheet of cardboard. The sides are then folded to form an open box. The surface area, in square units, of the interior of the box is

$[asy] fill((0,0)--(20,0)--(20,5)--(0,5)--cycle,lightgray); fill((20,0)--(20+5*sqrt(2),5*sqrt(2))--(20+5*sqrt(2),5+5*sqrt(2))--(20,5)--cycle,lightgray); draw((0,0)--(20,0)--(20,5)--(0,5)--cycle); draw((0,5)--(5*sqrt(2),5+5*sqrt(2))--(20+5*sqrt(2),5+5*sqrt(2))--(20,5)); draw((20+5*sqrt(2),5+5*sqrt(2))--(20+5*sqrt(2),5*sqrt(2))--(20,0)); draw((5*sqrt(2),5+5*sqrt(2))--(5*sqrt(2),5*sqrt(2))--(5,5),dashed); draw((5*sqrt(2),5*sqrt(2))--(15+5*sqrt(2),5*sqrt(2)),dashed); [/asy]$

$\text{(A)}\ 300 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 500 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 550 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 600 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 1000$

Solution

If the sides of the open box are folded down so that a flat sheet with four corners cut out remains, then the revealed surface would have the same area as the interior of the box. This is equal to the area of the four corners subtracted from the area of the original sheet, which is $((20)(30)-4(5)(5)) = 600-100 = \boxed{\text{(B)}\ 500}$ .

1993 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 16	Followed by Problem 18
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1993 AJHSME Problems/Problem 17

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