You basically just have to go through it in your mind and figure out you always need one fewer cut than pieces.

so, he had to make 4 cuts to get it into 5 pieces, so assuming the log is even and not tapered, each cut took 5 min.

So he needs to make 9 cuts to make 10 pieces, so that would be 9x5=45 min.

Right?

Cut in 1/2 the 5 pieces Equals 10.

9 cuts. Each takes 5 mins. 45 mins.

Is it the same log or a different log?

24 . Four minutes per chop and he can just chop across all the five pieces once to get 10

Anonymous wrote:45 minutes

+1. 5 mins/cut, 9 cuts to make 10 pieces.

20 minutes

Yes. 4 cuts to get 5 pieces, so 5 minutes per cut. 9 cuts to get 10 pieces, so 9x5=45.

25?

Anonymous wrote:45 minutes

This would be my answer, as well.

Can Mr. Sawyer cut said 5 pieces in half and get his 10 pieces that way?

Is this supposed to be a riddle?

45 minutes

It took Mr. Sawyer 20 minutes to cut a log into 5 pieces. How many minutes would it take him to cut a log into 10 pieces?

This was a continental math league problem (4th grade). Clearly the correct answer isn't the obvious one Just curious if others think the way they're looking for you think...