Exercise 2: Ultimate Cardboard Soda Can Carrier

Due Tuesday February 28, 2017

Garfield has been invited to another picnic. He needs to bring as many cans of soda as he possibly can. Garfield has a problem. He does not have anything to carry the cans in. He does not want to miss the picnic because he heard that there will be lasagne there, but he cannot show up empty handed either. He needs your help. Here are some of Garfield’s criteria:

  • The holder must made out of cardboard. His owner, John, will provide you with half a sheet of cardboard. Use as little cardboard as possible because the more money John saves, the more dessert he can buy for Garfield. John as gotten wise to the fact that Garfield wasted a lot of cardboard at the last picnic, so this time John is counting both the cardboard in the amount that goes to waste in failed attempts. Keep track of the total amount of cardboard you use in your carrier – both successful and unsuccessful.
  • At the last picnic John saw some of the neat carriers that were cut on the laser cutter. Now he only wants a laser-cut carrier. None of that messy Exacto blade stuff.
  • Garfield does not like glue or tape. No glue or tape is allowed. Only cardboard. Garfield would like a classy, well-made holder too. There might be someone he wants to impress at the picnic. Garfield is sure she will be impressed by a laser-cut carrier. And impressed by the large number of cans of soda that he can fit in the carrier you make for him.
  • Don’t forget that Garfield has paws not hands, so the hole to grab the carrier has to be big enough for a paw to go through. The holder should still allow Garfield to have one free paw to hold Odie’s leash.
  • When Garfield and Odie are happy, they like to skip. Garfield does not want the cans to fall out if the holder is swung. Make certain that they are secure.
  • Garfield needs to figure out how to get the most lasagna possible. For every can of soda he gets to the picnic (successfully skipping back and forth at the front of the room), John gives him 10 square inches of lasagna.  For every square inch of cardboard that he uses in the carrier, John takes away 0.4 square inches of lasagna. That is, if X = number of cans and Y = square inches of cardboard consumed, then

Lasagna = 10 * X – 0.4*Y

        Your carrier should maximize Garfield’s lasagna consumption.

  • The picnic is coming up soon, so Garfield would like to have this holder by Tuesday.

Check the assessment criteria.