MENSURATION Circles and sectors

An arc is any continuous part arc

UNITS of the circle. The length of an
You should be familiar with the following units: arc is called its arclength. r sector
q°
Length: mm, cm, m, km Every arc has a corresponding
sector, which is the portion
Area: mm2 , cm2 , m2 , ha, km2 of the circle subtended by the
Volume: mm3 , cm3 , m3 same angle µ± as the arc.
Capacity: ml, cl, l
For a circle: Circumference C = ¼d = 2¼r
Mass: g, kg, Area A = ¼r2

To convert from smaller to larger units we divide by the For a sector of angle µ± :
conversion factor. ¡ ¢
Arclength s= µ
360
£ 2¼r
To convert from larger to smaller units we multiply by the ¡ ¢
Area A= µ
360
£ ¼r2
conversion factor.

LENGTH
SURFACE AREA
The perimeter of a figure is the measurement of the distance
around its boundary. Solids with plane faces
For a polygon the perimeter is the sum of the lengths of all
The surface area of a three dimensional figure with plane faces
sides.
£1000 £100 £10 is the sum of the areas of the faces.

To assist in your calculations, you can draw a net of the solid,

km m cm mm
correctly labelling the dimensions.
¥1000 ¥100 ¥10 Solids with curved surfaces
AREA
You should be able to use these formulae for surface area:
The area of a figure is the amount of surface within its
boundaries. Hollow cylinder Hollow can
£100 £10 000 £10 000 £100 hollow hollow

km2 ha m2 cm2 mm2

h h
¥100 ¥10 000 ¥10 000 ¥100
r hollow r solid
You should be able to use these formulae for area:
Rectangles A = 2¼rh A = 2¼rh + ¼r2

Area = length £ width

width
Solid cylinder Hollow cone

length solid r

Triangles
h
1 l
Area = 2
(base £ height) height

r solid
base
A = 2¼rh + 2¼r2 A = ¼rl
Parallelograms
Area = base £ height height Solid cone Sphere
r
base r
a
Trapezia l
1
Area = 2
(a + b) £ h h

A = ¼rl + ¼r2 A = 4¼r2

b

1
VOLUME
The volume of a solid is the amount of space it occupies.
£1 000 000 £1000

m3 cm3 mm3

¥1 000 000 ¥1000

You should be able to use these formulae for volume:
Solids of uniform cross-section

height height

end
end end height
Volume of uniform solid = area of end £ height

Pyramids and cones

height height

base base
Volume of a pyramid or cone = 13 (area of base £ height)

Spheres

Volume of a sphere = 43 ¼r3

You can find the volumes of compound solids by separating
the solid into sections like those above.

CAPACITY
The capacity of a container is the quantity of fluid or gas
required to fill it.
£1000 £100 £10

kl litres cl ml

¥1000 ¥100 ¥10

Connecting volume to capacity

1 ml ´ 1 cm3
1 litre ´ 1000 cm3
1 kl = 1000 litres ´ 1 m3

MASS
The mass of an object is the amount of matter in it.
£1000 £1000 £1000

t kg g mg

¥1000 ¥1000 ¥1000