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Tile and Cut Figures with Congruent Pieces

A region is cut into, or built from, congruent pieces; the piece count, a side length, or the total area follows from how the copies fit. Learners recover a side from the number of cut pieces, count grid cards, identify tiling pieces and area, and read a base shape from solid views. It links multiplication and division to spatial structure.

grade 2–4 GeometryMeasurement & dataOperations Draw a DiagramVisualize Spatial Relationships

Builds on: Division as the Inverse of Multiplication

Progression (5)

g3 1. Cut a rectangle into a grid of cards GeometryMeasurement & data · foundational
g4 2. Base perimeter from multiple views Measurement & dataGeometry · core
g3 3. Recover side length from number of cut pieces OperationsMeasurement & data · core
g4 4. Count distinct shapes built by adding congruent tiles Geometry · core
g4 5. Identify tiling pieces and total area GeometryMeasurement & data · advanced

Bridges to competition (7)

Reasoning problems that extend this idea toward competition:

Rectangle side and perimeter from equal squares Invariant → Pair-Sum Invariant
Side length of a square from fitted figures Logic → Small-Domain Constrained Search
Count ways to tile with one piece Shape enumeration → Grid Tiling / Packing with Divisibility
Tile a rectangle with distinct pieces Shape enumeration → Grid Tiling / Packing with Divisibility
Count distinct shapes from joined pieces Shape enumeration → Branching State Enumeration
Divide a shape with straight cuts Shape enumeration → Branching State Enumeration
Split a rectangle into product tiles Shape enumeration → Grid Tiling / Packing with Divisibility

Leads to competition types: Branching State EnumerationPair-Sum InvariantSmall-Domain Constrained SearchGrid Tiling / Packing with Divisibility