Difficulty: Rating: GCSE Marks:

GCSE Text:
The concrete footings for a new building are being poured. The wet concrete will set to form the ground floor.   The shape of the footings is shown in this diagram:

a) Calculate the volume of wet concrete needed to create this shape.

b) If each concrete mixing truck contains 6m³ of wet concrete, how many mixing trucks will need to visit the construction site today?

Suggestions:
This video was made when a school building was being constructed on site. KIER Construction kindly allowed a number of videos to be made so that students could grasp the use of Maths in the construction industry. In solving this problem, students need to handle missing dimensions and different units, therefore a class needs about 10 minutes of time to reach the final answer.

Extension Ideas:
Teachers could extend the learning by considering:

• Asking about ‘setting time’. The concrete must be poured in one session to avoid cracks. If the flow of concrete through the tube (seen in the video) is 1m³ every 10 minutes, what is the shortest time that will be required to pour the whole slab?