Since we have 4 pieces which we are "cutting into thirds," we can multiply the 4 by 3. This gives us an answer of 12 total pieces. This is because we are increasing the number of pieces we have due to cutting our existing pieces.
However, we could also solve this problem using the diagram that is included. If we were to draw lines to show each piece being cut into thirds, we would want to draw lines that separate each piece into three equal parts.
Now, we can use this diagram we just made by adding lines to determine the number of pieces we now have. Since each piece has now become 3 pieces, and there were 4 total pieces to being with, we have 12 total pieces.
