Chapter 13: Surface Area and Volume

Part 3 – Fitting cubes/cuboids into other cubes/cuboids

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the chapter, students should be able to:
 Demonstrate and understanding of a net of a cube and a cuboid
 Recognise that the total surface area of a cube and a cuboid is the sum
of the areas of the faces of the nets
 Develop and apply formulae to calculate surface area of a cube and a
cuboid
 Demonstrate an understanding of the volume of a cube and a cuboid
 Develop and apply formulae to determine the volume of a cube and a
cuboid
 Solve problems involving surface area and volume of cubes and
cuboids

In the first two parts of this chapter, you have learnt how to:

 recognise the nets of a cube and a cuboid

 recognise that the total surface area of a cube and a cuboid is the sum of the
areas of all the faces of the net
 develop and apply formulae to calculate the total surface of a cube and a
cuboid
 develop and apply formulae to determine the volume of a cube and a cuboid
 solve problems involving surface area and volume of cubes and cuboids
In the last section of this chapter, you will learn how to fit cubes or cuboids
into other cubes or cuboids.

Fitting cubes into a cube or a cuboid

You can see in this picture how cubes of say 1-cm are being fitted along the
different faces (length, width and height) to get a cube of say 3 cm.

Example 1:
A cube of edge 3 cm is fitted into another cube of edge 15 cm. How many 3-
cm cubes fit exactly into the big cube?
Solution:

Number of 3-cm cubes along the length

15
= =5
3

Number of 3-cm cubes along the width

15
= =5
3

Number of 3-cm cubes along the height

15
= =5
3

Total number of 3-cm cubes

= 5 × 5 × 5 = 125

Example 2:
A cube of edge 5-cm is fitted into the cuboid below. What is the largest
number of 5-cm cubes needed to fill in the cuboid?

15 cm
25 cm

20 cm
Solution:

Number of 5-cm cubes along the

length
25
= =5
5

Number of 5-cm cubes along the

width
20
= =4
5

Number of 5-cm cubes along the

height
15
= =3
5

Total number of 5-cm cubes

= 5 × 4 × 3 = 60

Example 3:
Cubes of edge 3 cm are placed in a box of dimensions 18 cm, 12 cm and 10
cm.
Calculate:
(i) the largest number of cubes that can be placed in the box
(ii) the volume of space left unoccupied.
 Solution:

10 cm

18
(i) Number of 3-cm cubes along the length = =6 (6 cubes fit exactly)
3
12
Number of 3-cm cubes along the width = =4 (4 cubes fit exactly)
3
10 1
Number of 3-cm cubes along the height= =3 (3 cubes fit along the
3 3

height and there is a remainder of 1 cm)

Largest number of 3-cm cubes that can be placed in the box
= 6 × 4 × 3 = 72

(ii) Volume of space unoccupied = 18 cm × 12 cm × 1 cm

= 216 𝑐𝑚3
OR

Volume of space unoccupied

= 18 cm × 12 cm × 10 cm – 72 × (2 × 2 × 2 ) 𝑐𝑚3
= 216 𝑐𝑚3
Exercises to practise – Exercise 13D

1. How many 2-cm cubes are needed to make a cube of edge 30 cm?
2. How many cubes of edge 4 cm are needed to make a cuboid of dimensions
60 cm, 40 cm and 12 cm?
3. A rectangular piece of iron of dimensions 3 m by 2 m by 1 m is melted to
form cubes of length 20 cm. How many cubes will be obtained?
4. A cube of edge 6 cm is put inside a cubical box of edge 8 cm. Calculate the
largest number of 6 cm cubes that can fit the 8-cm cube and find the volume
of space left unoccupied.
5. Cuboids, 5 cm by 4 cm by 3 cm are placed in a box of width 16 cm, length
25 cm and height 17 cm.
(a) Find the largest number of cuboids that can be placed in the box,
(b) Calculate the volume left unoccupied.
6. The cube and the cuboid have the same volume. The total surface area of the
cube is 600 𝑐𝑚2 . Calculate
(a) The length of the cube
(b) The volume of the cube, and
(c) The height of the cuboid.
 Links:
• https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/volume-cubes-cuboids.html
• https://www.analyzemath.com/geometry/3d_shapes_problems.html
• https://nrich.maths.org/7535
• https://nrich.maths.org/1155
• https://nrich.maths.org/6903
• https://nrich.maths.org/2824

Answers to Exercises to Practice

Exercise 13D

1. 3375 cubes of 2 cm
2. 460 cubes of 4 cm
3. 750 cubes of 20 cm
4. Only 1 cube of 6 cm will fit and volume of space left unoccupied =
296 cm3
5. (a) 100 cuboids (b) 800 cm3
6. (a) 10 cm (b) 1000 cm3 (c) 5 cm