Bilal measured the outside diameter of the pea soup can to be 10 cm. What is the outside radius? 5cm Why did he estimate 4.8 cm for the inside radius?

Answer 1

Bilal most likely estimated 4.8 cm for the inside radius based on the fact that most pea soup cans have a thickness (or "wall thickness") of around 0.1 to 0.2 cm. If he subtracts twice the wall thickness from the outside diameter, he would get an estimate of the inside diameter. Then, dividing by 2 would give him an estimate of the inside radius.

Using this method:
- Outside diameter = 10 cm
- Wall thickness (assuming 0.15 cm) = 0.3 cm
- Inside diameter = 10 cm - 2(0.3 cm) = 9.4 cm
- Inside radius = 9.4 cm ÷ 2 = 4.7 cm

Since Bilal was estimating, he may have rounded up to 4.8 cm or used a slightly different wall thickness, but this method would explain why he arrived at a value slightly less than half of the can's outside radius.