Area and Perimeter

For polygons (triangles, pentagons, hexagons, and other shapes that you make by linking line segments together) perimeter is always pretty easy to compute (you just add up the lengths of the sides), but computing area gets more complicated. For a triangle, the formula is: area = (1/2) * length_of_base * height For a trapezoid, the formula is: top_length + bottom_length area = -------------------------- * height 2 One way to 'walk around' the rectangle would be to move from A to B (a distance of 3 ft.), then from B to C (a distance of 2 ft.), then from C to D (a distance of 3 ft.), and finally from D to A (a distance of 2 ft.). The total distance involved would be 3 ft + 2 ft + 3 ft + 2 ft, or 10 ft. So that's the perimeter of the rectangle: 10 ft. Area is more complicated, because it involves two dimensions, whereas perimeter involves only one. The way I always think of area is in terms of the amount of paint that I would need to cover a shape. If something has twice as much area, then I'd need twice as much paint. For a rectangle, we compute area by multiplying the length by the width: 3 ft A---------B | | 2 ft | | D---------C

perimeter = 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10 ft area = 3 * 2 = 6 square feet

If we double the length of each side, we get twice the perimeter, but _more_ than twice the area: 6 ft A-------------------B | | | | | | 4 ft | | | | D-------------------C

perimeter = 6 + 4 + 6 + 4 =20 ft area = 6 * 4 = 24 square feet