Core and Extended Topic 7: Mensuration

Learning outcome

 In this topic, we will learn: Units: mm, cm, m, km; mm 2 , cm 2 , m 2 , ha, km 2 ; mm 3 , cm 3 , m 3 ; ml, cl, l; g,
kg, t

 Perimeter and area of rectangle, triangle and compound shapes derived from these

 Circumference and area of a circle; Arc length and area of sector

 Surface area and volume of prism and pyramid (in particular, cuboid, cylinder and cone); Surface area and
volume of sphere and hemisphere

 Areas and volumes of compound shapes

1
The measurement of length, area, volume and capacity is of great importance.

Constructing a tall building or a long bridge across a river, joining the circuits of a microchip, and
rendezvousing in space to repair a satellite all require the use of measurement with skill and precision.

Builders, architects, engineers and manufacturers need to measure the sizes of objects to considerable accuracy.

The most common system of measurement is the Système International (SI).

Important units that you should be familiar with include:

The SI uses prefixes to indicate an increase or decrease in the size of a unit.

In this course we will work primarily with the prefixes kilo, centi and milli.

Length
The base unit of length in the SI is the metre (m). Other units of length based on the metre are:

 millimetres (mm) used to measure the length of a bee

 centimetres (cm) used to measure the width of your desk

 kilometres (km) used to measure the distance between two cities.

The table below summarises the connection between these units of length:

2
1 kilometre (km) = 1000 metres (m)

1 metre (m) = 100 centimetres

1 centimetre (cm) = 10 millimetres (mm)

LENGTH UNITS CONVERSIONS

So, to convert cm

into km we ÷ 100

and then ÷ 1000.

Notice that, when converting from:

 smaller units to larger units we divide by the conversion factor

 larger units to smaller units we multiply by the

conversion factor.

Example 1
Convert: (a) 4.5 km to m (b) 1.25 m to mm

Example 2
3
Convert: (a) 350 cm to m (b) 23 000 mm to m

Perimeter
The perimeter of a figure is the measurement of the distance around its boundary.

For a polygon, the perimeter is obtained by adding the lengths of all sides.

One way of thinking about perimeter is to imagine walking around a property. Start at
one corner and walk around the boundary. When you arrive back at your starting point
the perimeter is the distance you have walked.

You should remember from previous years these perimeter formulae:

Example 3
Find the perimeter of:

4
Area
All around us we see surfaces such as walls, ceilings, paths and ovals. All of these surfaces have boundaries that
help to define the surface.

An area is the amount of surface within specified boundaries.

The area of the surface of a closed figure is measured in terms of the number of square units it encloses.

UNITS OF AREA

Area can be measured in square millimetres, square centimetres, square metres and square kilometres; there is
also another unit called a hectare (ha).

Since 1 m = 100 cm, these squares have the same area.

So, 1 m 2 = 100 cm × 100 cm = 10 000 cm 2

AREA UNITS CONVERSIONS

Example 4

Convert: (a) 6 m 2 to cm 2 (b) 18 500 m 2 to ha

5
AREA FORMULAE

You should remember these area formulae from previous years:

Example 5
Find the area of:

6
Example 6
Find the green shaded area:

Volume
The volume of a solid is the amount of space it occupies. It is measured in cubic units.

UNITS OF VOLUME

Volume can be measured in cubic millimetres, cubic centimetres or cubic metres.

Since 1 cm = 10 mm, we can see that:

1 cm 3

= 10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm

= 1000 mm 3

7
Likewise, since 1 m = 100 cm, we can see that:

1 m3

= 100 cm × 100 cm × 100 cm

= 1 000 000 cm 3

VOLUME UNITS CONVERSIONS

Example 7
Convert the following: (a) 5 m 3 to cm 3 (b) 25 000 mm 3 to cm 3

VOLUME FORMULAE

Rectangular prism or cuboid

Volume = length × width × depth

8
Solids of uniform cross-section

Notice in the triangular prism alongside, that vertical

slices parallel to the front triangular face will all be the

same size and shape as that face. We say that solids

like this are solids of uniform cross-section. The cross-

section in this case is a triangle.

Another example is the hexagonal prism shown opposite.

For any solid of uniform cross-section:

Volume = area of cross-section × length

In particular, for a cylinder, the cross-section is a circle and so:

Volume = area of circle × length

= πr 2 × l

i.e., V = πr 2l or V = πr 2 h

PYRAMIDS AND CONES

These tapered solids have a flat base and come to a point called the apex. They do not have identical cross-
sections. The cross-sections always have the same shape, but not the same size.

For example,

1
Volume = (area of base × height)
3

9
A formal proof of this formula is beyond the scope of this course. It may be demonstrated using water
displacement. Compare tapered solids with solids of uniform cross-section with identical bases and the same
heights.

For example:

 a cone and a cylinder

 a square-based pyramid and a square-based prism.

SPHERES

The Greek philosopher Archimedes was born in Syracuse in 287 BC. Amongst many other important
discoveries, he found that the volume of a sphere is equal to two thirds of the volume of the smallest cylinder
which encloses it.

Volume of cylinder = πr 2 × h = πr 2 × 2r = 2πr 3

2
∴ volume of sphere = × volume of cylinder
3

2 4
= × 2πr 3 = πr 3
3 3

4 3
Thus V = πr
3

Example 8
Find, correct to 3 significant figures,
the volume of the following solids:

10
Example 9
Find the volumes of these solids:

Example 10
Find the volume of the sphere in cubic centimetres, to the nearest whole number:

Capacity
The capacity of a container is the quantity of fluid or gas used to fill it.

The basic unit of capacity is the litre.

1 centilitre (cl) = 10 millilitres (ml)

1 litre = 1000 millilitres (ml)

1 litre = 100 centilitres (cl)

1 kilolitre (kl) = 1000 litres

11
CAPACITY UNITS CONVERSION

Example 11
Convert: (a) 4.2 litres to ml (b) 36 800 litres to kl (c) 25 cl to litres

CONNECTING VOLUME AND CAPACITY

1 millilitre (ml) of fluid fills a container of size 1 cm 3 .

We say: 1 ml ≡ 1 cm 3 , 1 litre ≡ 1000 cm 3 and 1 kl = 1000 litres ≡ 1 m 3 .

Example 12
How many kl of water would a 3 m by 2.4 m by 1.8 m tank hold when full?

12
Example 13
Water pours into a cylindrical tank of diameter 4 m at a constant rate of 1 kl per hour. By how much does the
water level rise in 5 hours (to the nearest mm)?

Mass
The mass of an object is the amount of matter in it.

In the SI system of units, the primary unit of mass is the kilogram. The units of mass are connected in the
following way:

1 gram (g) is the mass of 1 ml of pure water. 1 g = 1000 mg

1 kilogram (kg) is the mass of 1 litre of pure water. 1 kg = 1000 g

1 tonne (t) is the mass of 1 kl of pure water. 1 t = 1000 kg

MASS UNITS CONVERSION

DENSITY

13
 The density of an object is its mass divided by its volume.

mass
density =
volume

Circles and sectors

You should already be familiar with these terms relating to circles:

A circle is the set of all points a fixed distance from a point called the circle’s centre.

A line segment from the centre to any point on the circle is called a
radius.

We denote the length of the radius by r. The perimeter of a circle is

called its circumference.

A line segment which joins any two points on the circle is called a
chord.

A chord which passes through the centre of the circle is called a

diameter. We denote the length of the diameter

by d.

An arc is a continuous part of the circle. The length of an arc is

called its arclength.

Every arc has a corresponding sector, which is the portion of the circle subtended by the same angle θ as the
arc.

The formulae for the circumference and area of a circle both involve the number π or “pi”. π is an irrational
number, and π ≈ 3.14.

14
Example 14
Find the perimeter of:

Example 15
Find the area of each of the following figures:

Example 16
A sector has area 25 cm 2 and radius 6 cm. Find the angle subtended at the centre.

15
Example 17
Find a formula for the area A of:

Surface area
SOLIDS WITH PLANE FACES

The surface area of a three-dimensional figure with plane faces is the sum of the areas of the faces.

To help find the surface area of a solid, it is often helpful to draw a net. This is a two-dimensional plan which
can be folded to construct the solid.

Example 18
Find the total surface area of the rectangular box:

16
Example 19
What is the total surface area of this wedge?

Example 20
Find the surface area of the square-based pyramid:

17
Example 21
Find the cost of erecting a 6 m by 4 m rectangular garden shed that is 2 m high if the metal sheeting costs $15
per square metre.

SOLIDS WITH CURVED SURFACES

We will consider the outer surface area of three types of object with curved surfaces.
These are cylinders, cones and spheres.

Cylinders

Consider the cylinder shown alongside. If the cylinder is cut, opened out and flattened onto a plane, it takes the
shape of a rectangle.

You can verify that the curved surface produces a rectangle by peeling the label off a cylindrical can and
noticing the shape when the label is flattened. The length of the rectangle is the same as the circumference of
the cylinder.

So, for a hollow cylinder, the outer surface area A = area of rectangle

∴ A = length × width

18
 ∴ A = 2πr × h

∴ A = 2πrh

Cones

The curved surface of a cone is made from a sector of a circle with radius equal to the slant height of the cone.
The circumference of the base equals the arc length of the sector.

19
The mathematics required to prove this formula is beyond the scope of this course.

Example 22
Find the surface areas of the following solids:

Example 23
Find the surface area of a solid cone of base radius 5 cm and height 12 cm.
20
Compound solids

We can find the surface area and volume of more complicated solids by separating the shape into objects that
we are familiar with.

Example 24

The diagram consists of a cone joined to a cylinder.

Find, in terms of π :

(a) the surface area of the solid

(b) the volume of the solid.

21
Example 25
A concrete tank has an external diameter of 10 m and an internal height of 3 m. If the walls and bottom of the
tank are 30 cm thick, how many cubic metres of concrete are required to make the tank?

22