4. In Art class, Mr. Joselyn gave everyone a 1 -foot stick to measure and cut. Vivian measured and cut her stick into 5 equal pleces. Scott measured and cut his into 7 equal pieces. Scott said to vivian, "The total length ef my stick is longer than yours because 1 have 7 pleces, and you only have 5 , is Scott correct? Use words, pictures, or a number line to help you explain.

Scott's reasoning is a classic misunderstanding of how length works! Both Vivian and Scott started with a 1-foot stick. When Vivian cuts her stick into 5 equal pieces, each piece is 1 foot divided by 5, which is 1/5 of a foot (or 12 inches divided by 5 equals 2.4 inches per piece). On the other hand, Scott cuts his stick into 7 equal pieces, making each piece 1 foot divided by 7, or roughly 1/7 of a foot (about 1.71 inches per piece). Despite having more pieces, both of them still have the same total length of 1 foot. To visualize this, you can imagine a number line from 0 to 12 inches. If you mark out 5 segments of 2.4 inches for Vivian and 7 segments of 1.71 inches for Scott, they both start at 0 and end at 12 inches, showing they both retain the same total length despite the different number of pieces!