About Area and

Perimeter
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

About Area and Perimeter ............................................................................................................................ 1

What is AREA AND PERIMETER? ............................................................................................................... 1

Square/Rectangle.......................................................................................................................................... 1

Square ....................................................................................................................................................... 1

Rectangle .................................................................................................................................................. 2

Triangles ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

Right Triangle ............................................................................................................................................ 2

Non-Right Triangles................................................................................................................................... 3

Equilateral Triangles.................................................................................................................................. 3

Parallelogram ................................................................................................................................................ 4

Trapezoid ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

Circle ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

Complex Shapes ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Glossary ......................................................................................................................................................... 7

References .................................................................................................................................................... 9
 About Area and Perimeter
What is AREA AND PERIMETER?

● For a two-dimensional figure, the area is the amount of space enclosed by

the figure, and the perimeter is the distance around the figure. Any closed
curve has an area and a perimeter, but, except for simple figures like squares
and triangles, you need calculus to calculate the area and perimeter exactly.

● This unit is about how to calculate areas and perimeters for simple figures
and how to estimate them for more complex figures. This is sufficient for
many everyday applications, such as building a fence or painting a room.
Area is always in square units: square centimetres, square meters, square
kilometres. Perimeter is always in one-dimensional units: centimetres,
meters, kilometres.

Square/Rectangle
Square

● The area of a square with sides of length s is: A = s2.

Its perimeter is: P = 4s.

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Rectangle

● The area of a rectangle with length l and width w is: A = lw.

Its perimeter is: P = 2l + 2w.

Triangles
Right Triangle

● Given a right triangle with sides a, b and hypotenuse c, the area is:

A = ½ ab

The perimeter is:

P=a+b+c

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Non-Right Triangles

● Most commonly, we are given a non-right triangle, for which we know the
length of one of its sides (called the base b) and its height h. To measure the
height, draw a line perpendicular to the base from the angle opposite the
base. This line doesn't always hit the base; sometimes, you need to extend
the line containing the base. The length of the line described is the height h.

The area is: A = ½ bh.

Perimeter is difficult to determine, as the triangles below – each with

equivalent area - demonstrate.

● If you do not know the height, sometimes you can figure it out from other
information, using trigonometry. This is due to the fact that the height is
always part of a right triangle.

● If you know the lengths of all the sides, you can use Heron's Formula (a.k.a.
Hero's Formula):

A = √ s(s - a)(s - b)(s - c);

s is the semiperimeter (half the perimeter) and a, b, and c are the lengths of
the sides.

Equilateral Triangles

● Equilateral triangles are important, having the largest area for any given
perimeter and the smallest perimeter for any given area, of all possible
triangles.

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● The area of an equilateral triangle with side of length x is:

A = (√3 /4) x2

and the perimeter is:

P = 3x

Parallelogram

● The formula for the area of a parallelogram directly relates to the formula for
the area of a rectangle. Imagine cutting off a triangle from one side of the
parallelogram. Flip this triangle over and it fits perfectly on the other side,
creating a rectangle. The area of this rectangle is the area of the
parallelogram. As with the formula for the area of a triangle, you don't need
to know the lengths of all the sides to find the area; you need to know the
length of one side (the base b) and the height h.

Area is given by:

A = bh

● The two parallelograms given below have the same area; however, they
clearly have different perimeters. The perimeter is related to the steepness of
the angle between the base and side. The perimeter of a parallelogram is
given by P = 2b + 2x where b is the base and x is the length of a side not
parallel to the base.

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● If you are given the base, the height, and one angle of the parallelogram, you
can find the perimeter. Each parallelogram has two acute angles θ and two
obtuse angles Φ. θ = 180° - Φ. Consider the right triangle created by drawing
the height. sin(θ) = h/x so x = h/sin θ . Hence, another formula for the
perimeter is: P = 2b + 2h/sin θ.

Trapezoid

● A trapezoid is a four-sided shape having exactly one pair of parallel sides,

with the exception of a parallelogram being debatable.

● The bases of a trapezoid b1 and b2 are the two parallel sides. The height h is
the distance between the bases. The area of a trapezoid is the sum of the area
of two triangles, one with base b1 and height h, and the other with base b2
and height h. So, the area is A = ½ h(b1 + b2).

If you know b1, b2, h and the measure of two angles θ1 and θ2, you can find
the perimeter:

P = b1 + b2 + h/sin(θ1) + h/sin(θ2) (Use the acute angles; if you are given the
obtuse angles, you can find the acute
ones by subtracting from 180°).

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 Circle

● The area of a circle is A = πr2 and the perimeter (called the circumference) is
C = 2πr.

● To find the area of an ellipse, you need to know the length of the major and
minor axes. If a is half the length of the major axis, and b is half the length
of the minor axis, then the area is given by: A = πab.

● Finding the perimeter of an ellipse is much more difficult.

One good formula was invented by Srinivasa Ramanujan, a great 20th-

century mathematician from India. His formula says the perimeter is
approximately:

π(a + b)(3 - √ 4 - h) where h = (a - b)2

(a + b)2

Complex Shapes

● If you need to find the area of a shape that is not a simple geometric shape,
you can draw it on graph paper and count the squares. You need to estimate
how much the partial squares add up to.

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 Glossary

Area: a measure of the space contained within the

sides of a 2D shape.

Circle: a shape whose centre is equidistant to each

point lying on the shape itself.

Cube: a shape formed by six equal squares,

connected to one another at right angles.

Ellipse: a stretched circle.

Equilateral Triangle: a triangle with all sides and all angles being
equal.

Isosceles triangle: a triangle with two equal sides.

Parallelogram: a 4-sided shape, with two sets of sides being

of equal length and parallel.

Perimeter: distance around a shape.

Rectangle: a 4-sided shape, with 4 interior right angles

and 2 pairs of sides of equal length (a.k.a. a
right parallelogram).

Right Triangle: triangle with a right angle.

Semiperimeter: half the perimeter.

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Surface area: a measure of the total space enclosed within
the faces of a shape, which is not to be
confused with volume (a measure of the
interior space of a shape).

Square: a 4-sided shape, with 4 interior right angles

and all sides equal.

Trapezoid: a 4-sided shape, with only two parallel sides.

Triangle: a 3-sided shape.

Volume: a measure of the interior space of a 3D

shape.

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 References

7 ways to find the area of a triangle (using trig, etc.) by Henry Bottomley, a

government statistician for the UK.

http://www.btinternet.com/ se16/hgb/triangle.htm

Triangles with the same area and perimeter (Henry Bottomley)

http://www.btinternet.com/ se16/hgb/triangleareaperimeter.htm

Math Open Reference (free interactive textbook)

http://www.mathopenref.com/trianglearea.html

Trapezoid Perimeter and Area: dynamic

http://argyll.epsb.ca/jreed/math9/strand3/trapezoid area per.htm