The Challenge:

The following problem would not have been possible without the help of Robert Keitzman's awesome first and second graders at Soquel Elementary School in Soquel, California.

The front yard of Soquel Elementary is home to three of Coastal California's giant Red Wood trees. Their great height and circumference was amazing even though staff members at the school indicated that they were just babies. A short visit to nearby Henry Cowell State Park proved them right. The tallest of the park's elegant giants measured in at 285 feet in height and 51 feet in circumference at the base.

This week's problem involves trying to figure out approximately how much larger, at the base, the Henry Cowell giant was than the school's biggest. To help you, six of Mr. Keitzman's first and second graders are completely ringing the base of their largest tree touching finger tips to finger tips.

The Solution:

Should you decide to ponder the problem and accept the challenge, communicate your solution to Mister Goodmath at "rooneym@mistergoodmath.org". Great solutions will be featured on T.V. during WAVE morning announcements.
 

The Hint:

1. The average height of each of the children in the picture was 131 centimeters.

2. Don't forget to convert centimeters to an approximate number of feet.