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| 18 Theory slides |
| 8 Exercises - Grade E - A |
| Each lesson is meant to take 1-2 classroom sessions |
Here are a few recommended readings before getting started with this lesson.
A diagonal of a rectangle divides the rectangle into two right triangles. Because of this, a formula for the area of a right triangle can be derived from the formula for the area of a rectangle. The good news is that the same formula applies to any type of triangle!
The area of a triangle is half the product of its base b and its height h.
A=21bh
The triangle's base can be any of its sides. The height – or altitude – of the triangle is the segment that is perpendicular to the base and connects the base or its extension with its opposite vertex.
A=21bh
On his birthday, Mark's uncle gave him a tangram, a Chinese puzzle made of seven polygons that can be used to create different shapes. The seven individual pieces are called tans.
Mark's uncle warned him that once the pieces are taken out of the box, putting them back is a challenge.
b=8, h=4
Multiply
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Identity Property of Multiplication
Calculate quotient
Substitute values
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Calculate quotient
LHS/2=RHS/2
Rearrange equation
Property | Justification |
---|---|
The opposite sides are congruent | Parallelogram Opposite Sides Theorem |
The opposite angles are congruent | Parallelogram Opposite Angles Theorem |
The diagonals bisect each other | Parallelogram Diagonals Theorem |
These properties are illustrated graphically in the next diagram.
The area of a parallelogram is equal to the product of its base b and height h. The base can be any side of the parallelogram and the height is the perpendicular distance to the opposite side.
Parallelograms can be divided into three main types: rectangles, rhombuses, and squares. It is the time to learn about rhombuses.
The area of a rhombus is half the product of the lengths of the diagonals.
Alternatively, since a rhombus is a parallelogram, its area can also be calculated by multiplying its base and height.
Since Mark received the tangram puzzle, he sees polygons everywhere.
d1=127, d2=127
Multiply
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Calculate quotient
d1=8.7, d2=5
Multiply
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Calculate quotient
A=21.75
LHS/4.3=RHS/4.3
Calculate quotient
Rearrange equation
Round to 1 decimal place(s)
The following applet shows a general parallelogram or rhombus. Calculate the missing dimension of the given polygon. Round the answer to two decimal places.
A trapezoid is a quadrilateral with exactly one pair of parallel sides. The parallel sides are called the bases of the trapezoid, and the two other sides are called the legs. Two angles that have a base as a common side are called the base angles.
Trapezoids with congruent legs have a special name.
An isosceles trapezoid is a trapezoid whose legs are congruent.
Isosceles trapezoids have two main properties.
Property | Justification |
---|---|
The diagonals are congruent. | Isosceles Trapezoid Diagonals Theorem |
Each pair of base angles is congruent. | Isosceles Trapezoid Base Angles Theorem |
The area of a trapezoid is half the height times the sum of the lengths of the bases. In other words, the area of a trapezoid is the height multiplied by the average of the bases.
A=21h(b1+b2)
Mark is getting ready to go to school. As he eats breakfast with his parents, he looks up and begins to see trapezoids everywhere.
Substitute values
Add terms
Multiply
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Calculate quotient
Substitute values
Add terms
Commutative Property of Multiplication
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
LHS⋅7.82=RHS⋅7.82
a⋅cb=ca⋅b
Multiply
Calculate quotient
Rearrange equation
Round to 1 decimal place(s)
Mark's futsal team has their final championship game tonight. They have been practicing different strategies for this game. The coach prepared some plays on a whiteboard with a coordinate system. One unit on the board represents 2 meters on the actual court.
Substitute (-6,1) & (2,4)
a−(-b)=a+b
Add and subtract terms
Calculate power
Add terms
Substitute (-3,5) & (-1,0)
a−(-b)=a+b
Add and subtract terms
Calculate power
Add terms
Length on the Whiteboard | Length on the Court |
---|---|
d1=73 | d1=273 |
d2=29 | d2=229 |
d1=273, d2=229
Commutative Property of Multiplication
Multiply
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Calculate quotient
a⋅b=a⋅b
Multiply
Use a calculator
Multiply
Round to nearest integer
Length on the Whiteboard | Length on the Court |
---|---|
b1=10.2 | b1=20.4 |
b2=5.1 | b2=10.2 |
Substitute values
Add terms
Commutative Property of Multiplication
ca⋅b=ca⋅b
Calculate quotient
LHS/15.3=RHS/15.3
Rearrange equation
Calculate quotient
Round to 1 decimal place(s)
Sometimes a plane figure can be made up of two or more geometric shapes. These figure are called composite figures. The area of a composite figure is the sum of the areas of all the basic figures that make it up. A good example of composite figures are those formed by a tangram puzzle. For instance, consider the following rocket.
The area of the rocket is equal to the sum of the areas of all seven polygons. However, some pieces can be considered together to perform fewer computations. For example, the rocket can be seen as three trapezoids.
Tans Forming the Trapezoid | Dimensions | A=21h(b1+b2) | Area (cm2) |
---|---|---|---|
7 and 3 | b1=8 b2=4 h=2 |
A7,3=21⋅2(8+4) | 12 |
1, 2, and 4 | b1=12 b2=8 h=4 |
A1,2,4=21⋅4(12+8) | 40 |
5 and 6 | b1=28 b2=8 h=8 |
A5,6=21⋅8(28+8) | 12 |
The area of the rocket is 12+40+12=64 square centimeters. In fact, any figure that is formed using the seven tans will also have an area of 64 square centimeters! The following applet shows more examples and allows playing with the tans.
What is the area of the letter A?
There is no formula that directly gives us the area of this letter A, but we can try breaking it down into some parts that we can find the area of. For example, this letter A can be made by cutting a triangle and small trapezoid out from a large trapezoid.
The area of the letter is the area of the large trapezoid minus the areas of the cut pieces. Unfortunately, we do not know the heights of the small pieces, so we cannot find their areas. However, we can also form the letter A by cutting a large triangle out of the original large trapezoid, then adding back in the middle trapezoid.
We do have all the information to find the area of each of these pieces. Let's calculate the area of the letter A by finding the area of the large trapezoid minus the area of the triangle plus the area of the middle trapezoid. A_(Letter A) = A_1 - A_2 + A_3 Let's find each area one by one.
The large trapezoid has bases that are 80 and 10 centimeters long and is 61 centimeters high.
The area of a trapezoid is half the height times the sum of the lengths of the bases. Let's substitute these values into the formula and solve for the area of the large trapezoid A_1.
The area of the large trapezoid is 2745 square centimeters.
The triangle cutout has a base that is 20 centimeters long and is 51 centimeters high.
The area of a triangle is half the product of the base and height. Let's find the area of the triangle A_2!
The area of the triangle cutout is 510 square centimeters.
The middle trapezoid has bases that are 15 and 8 centimeters long and is 20 centimeters high.
Let's substitute these values into the formula for the area of a trapezoid and simplify to find the area of the middle trapezoid A_3.
The area of the middle trapezoid is 230 square centimeters.
Finally, we can substitute the areas we found into the equation we wrote for the area of the letter A. A_(Letter A) = A_1 - A_2 + A_3 Now let's find the total area of the letter. A_(Letter A)= 2745 - 510 + 230 ⇓ A_(Letter A) = 2465 The area of the letter A is 2465 square centimeters.