Jake is building a fence around his garden. He wants the fence to have the same shape as a hexagon but he only has 5 fence posts. What problem will Jake have?
- He will have too many fence posts because hexagons only need 4 posts
- He will have exactly the right number of fence posts for his hexagon fence
- He will have too many fence posts because hexagons are round shapes
- He will not have enough fence posts because hexagons need 6 posts (correct answer)
Explanation: When you see a question about building shapes with posts or sides, you need to know how many sides each shape has. This is testing your knowledge of polygon shapes and their properties. A hexagon is a shape with 6 sides and 6 corners. To build a fence in the shape of a hexagon, Jake needs one fence post at each corner where two sides meet. Since a hexagon has 6 corners, he needs exactly 6 fence posts to complete his hexagon fence. Jake only has 5 fence posts, but he needs 6 posts for his hexagon. This means he doesn't have enough posts - he's missing 1 post. Answer D is correct because hexagons need 6 posts, and Jake is short by 1 post. Looking at the wrong answers: Answer A is incorrect because hexagons need 6 posts, not 4 posts - that would be a square. Answer B is wrong because 5 posts is not the right number; Jake needs exactly 6 posts for a hexagon. Answer C is incorrect because hexagons are not round shapes - they have straight sides and corners. A circle is a round shape, but a hexagon has 6 straight sides. Remember this pattern: the number of posts needed for a polygon fence equals the number of sides the shape has. Triangle = 3 posts, square = 4 posts, pentagon = 5 posts, hexagon = 6 posts. Learning the names and side counts of basic shapes will help you solve similar problems quickly.