LEGO BY THE HOUSE-FUL
Lego is one of those toys that every kid has heard of, and that almost every kid has played with. Ever since it was invented in 1958, Lego pieces have had the exact same thickness of brick, and the same size studs (the little bumps on top). They’ve made 4 billion minifigures since then, which equals half the world’s population! Now they design 130 new sets each year, like the Star Wars sets, plus they keeping selling the longtime sets. How many Lego pieces are made every day? Lego’s website says that in one year they make 45.7 billion Legos. If we divide by 365, that comes to 125 million pieces a day, and a bout 5 million every hour. Given that a 1-foot cube can hold only about 400 pieces, you can imagine how many houses you can fill every day with Lego!
Wee ones: If you snap together a Red Lego brick, a blue brick, a green, a yellow, a white and a black, how many bricks have you snapped together?
Little kids: If a Lego brick has 2 rows with 4 studs each, how many studs does it have? Bonus: If you snap a 2-stud piece on top, how many studs from the bottom piece are still showing?
Big kids: To find how many 1m cubes a room can hold, you just multiply the length times the width times the height to the ceiling . If your bedroom is 10m by 6m with an 4m ceiling, how many cubic metres of Lego can you fill it with?
The sky’s the limit: How many different rectangle shapes (number of studs across and front to back) can a piece with 36 studs on top have? (Assume that you have at least 2 studs in either direction, but you don’t have to worry about which way each combo is facing.)
Wee ones: If you snap together a Red Lego brick, a blue brick, a green, a yellow, a white and a black, how many bricks have you snapped together?
Little kids: If a Lego brick has 2 rows with 4 studs each, how many studs does it have? Bonus: If you snap a 2-stud piece on top, how many studs from the bottom piece are still showing?
Big kids: To find how many 1m cubes a room can hold, you just multiply the length times the width times the height to the ceiling . If your bedroom is 10m by 6m with an 4m ceiling, how many cubic metres of Lego can you fill it with?
The sky’s the limit: How many different rectangle shapes (number of studs across and front to back) can a piece with 36 studs on top have? (Assume that you have at least 2 studs in either direction, but you don’t have to worry about which way each combo is facing.)
Answers:
Wee ones: 6 bricks.
Little kids: 8 studs. Bonus: 6 studs — or 7 if the 2-stud piece is hanging off the edge.
Big kids: 240 cubic metres.
The sky’s the limit: There are 4 ways: 2 studs x 18 studs, 3 x 12, 4 x 9, and 6 x 6.
Little kids: 8 studs. Bonus: 6 studs — or 7 if the 2-stud piece is hanging off the edge.
Big kids: 240 cubic metres.
The sky’s the limit: There are 4 ways: 2 studs x 18 studs, 3 x 12, 4 x 9, and 6 x 6.