Finding the Minimum Perimeter and the Area of a Polyomino

A Mathematical Investigation

Presented to

Mr. Melchor Amorin

Subject Adviser

And

Teachers of Ramon Teves Pastor Memorial – Dumaguete Science High School

(RTPM-DSHS), Dumaguete City

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Subject

Research Project/Capstone Project

By

Cabahug, Kneigeele J.

Lemence, John Dave A.

Partosa, Joni Jerl A.

Villaflores, Henri Benedict S.

March 2020
 INTRODUCTION

Mathematical investigation refers to the sustained exploration of a mathematical

situation. It distinguishes itself from problem solving because it is open-ended.“Research studies

show that when students discover mathematical ideas and invent mathematical procedures, they

have a stronger conceptual understanding of connections between mathematical ideas"

(Grouws&Cebulla, 2000, p. 17).

Flewelling and Higginson (2005) state that inquiry, investigations and problem solving

"give students the opportunity to use their imagination and to get into the habit of doing so. In

contrast, traditional text-based tasks provide the student with little or no such opportunity"

(Flewelling& Higginson, 2005, p. 19).

"Rich learning opportunities stem from students' engagement in challenging tasks ...

Classroom tasks can be broadly categorised into those that have the potential for learning and

those that provide opportunities for students to practise applying their previously learnt

knowledge or skills" (Diezmann, 2005, p. 2). Investigations are a good way of supplying the first

need.

Much research points to the need for mathematical inquiry, investigation and problem

solving in mathematics lessons. Thus, "Investigations are central to the reforms advocated

internationally to improve mathematical learning and develop children's mathematical power"

(Baroody&Coslick, 1998 cited in Diezmann, 2005, p. 4).

 Statement of the Problem

In this investigation, the researchers were given the task to provide a conjecture on getting the

minimum perimeter (P) in relation to the number of squares (n) from the given polyomino.

Figure 1. Polyomino
 Conjectures

Figure 2. minimum perimeter

Finding the PerimeterL

Given the formula : p(n)=2[2 √ n]

Let:

n be number of squares

P(n) be the minimum perimeter of the polyomino

n 4 16 25 36
P(n) 8 16 20 24
Finding the Area:

Let:

a be the length of one side of the square

Area of Polyominoe (AP) = 4[2a 2]

a 1 2 3 4
AP 8 32 72 128
 Verifying Conjectures

Finding the Perimeter:

Let:

n be number of squares

P(n) be the minimum perimeter of the polyomino

n p(n)=2[2 √ n]

4 8

16 16

25 20

36 24

49 28

64 32
 81 36

Finding the Area:

Let:

a be the length of one side of the square

Area of Polyominoe (AP) = 4[2a 2]

n (AP) = 4[2a 2]

2 32

4 128

6 288

8 512

10 400
12 1152

14 1568
 Justification

The distance travelled by the robot formed 4 rectangles which formed into a figure called

dominoes which is a polyominoe. When placed in a tile checkerboard, each rectangle consists of

2 squares each. Using the given formula for finding the perimeter of a polyominoe specifically a

dominoe, p(n)=2[2 √ n]. where n is the number of squares and p(n) will be the minimum

perimeter of the polyominoe. The resultant is the higher the number of squares of the

polyominoe in a tile checkerboard, the higher the sum of its minimum perimeter.

For finding the area of polyominoes, we use the formula that we derived

which is Area of Polyominoes (AP) = 4[2a 2] where there is 4 rectangles formed by the distance

travelled by the robot multiplied by the 2 squares which consist a single rectangle and formula of

an area of a square where a is the length of one side of a square and AP is the area of a

polyominoe. The investigators have concluded that the derived formula AP = 4[2a 2] is sufficient

to find the formula for the area of a polyominoe.

 Summary

 When students discover mathematical ideas and invent mathematical procedures, they have a

stronger conceptual understanding of connections between mathematical ideas. Inquiry,

investigations, and problem solving give students the opportunity to use their imagination and to

get into the habit of doing so. In contrast, text-based tasks provide the student with little or no

such opportunity. Investigations are central to the reforms advocated internationally to improve

mathematical learning and develop children's mathematical power.

The task that was given to the investigators involved the topic about polyominoes. The distance

travelled by the robot formed 4 rectangles when placed in a tile checkerboard formed a

polyominoe. The investigators solved for the perimeter and derived an equation for the area of a

polyominoe.
 Possible Extensions

The investigators would like to recommend future mathematical investigators to find

other alternate conjectures in finding the area and the minimum perimeter if ever to encounter

the same set of mathematical problems regarding polyominoes. The future investigations could

also find another way of formulating the area and minimum perimeter to further enhance this

mathematical incestigation. The future investigators could also find out another conjecture that

will find out how many polyominoes can be fit in a specific-sized grid.