Area and Volume

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Area and Volume

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Dimensions of length, area and volume

one mm, cm, m, km,

length length
dimension inch, foot

mm2, cm2, m2,

two length × hectare, km2,
area dimensions square inch,
length
square foot

three length × mm3, cm3, m3,

volume dimensions length × km3, cubic inch,
length cubic foot

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Length, area or volume?

ribbon used to wrap a present

wallpaper required for a room

distance between Mars and Earth

petrol in a tank

land covered by forest

water in a swimming pool

height of a tree
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Area and Volume

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Area formulae

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Area calculations

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The area of rectangles
A hotel is laying a carpet in a function hall but they want to
leave a dance floor in the corner uncarpeted. Calculate the
area of carpet required.
9m
This shape can be thought of
as made up of one rectangle
A cut out of another rectangle.
4m
Label the rectangles A and B.
11 m
6m area A = 9 × 11 = 99 m2
B
area B = 4 × 6 = 24 m2

total area = 99 – 24 = 75 m2

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The area of a triangle
Any side of the triangle can be taken as the base, as long
as the height is perpendicular to it:

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The area of a triangle

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The area of a parallelogram

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Tangram
This Chinese puzzle is made from 7 shape pieces that fit
together to make a square with sides of 16 cm.
The intersections are all evenly spaced.

What are the areas of the individual shapes?

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Area and Volume

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Surface area of a cuboid
To find the surface area of a shape, we calculate the
total area of all of the faces.

A cuboid has 6 faces.

The top and the bottom of the

cuboid have the same area.

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Surface area of a cuboid
To find the surface area of a shape, we calculate the
total area of all of the faces.

A cuboid has 6 faces.

The front and the back of the

cuboid have the same area.

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Surface area of a cuboid
To find the surface area of a shape, we calculate the
total area of all of the faces.

A cuboid has 6 faces.

The left hand side and the right

hand side of the cuboid have
the same area.

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Surface area of a cuboid
To find the surface area of a shape, we calculate the
total area of all of the faces.

Can you work out the

surface area of this cuboid?

the area of the top = 8 × 5

= 40 cm2

the area of the front = 7 × 5

= 35 cm2

the area of the side = 7 × 8

= 56 cm2

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Surface area of a cuboid
To find the surface area of a shape, we calculate the
total area of all of the faces.

The total surface area =

2 × 40 cm2 top and bottom

+ 2 × 35 cm2 front and back

+ 2 × 56 cm2 left and right side

= 80 + 70 + 112 = 262 cm2

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Formula for the surface area of a cuboid
We can find the formula for the surface area of a cuboid
as follows.

surface area of a cuboid =

2 × lw top and bottom

+ 2 × hw front and back

+ 2 × lh left and right side

= 2lw + 2hw + 2lh

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Surface area of a cube
How can we find the surface area of a cube of length x?

All six faces of a cube have

the same area.

The area of each face is x × x = x2.

Therefore:

surface area of a cube = 6x2

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Surface area of a prism
What is the surface area of this L-shaped prism?

To find the surface area of

this shape we need to add
together the area of the two
L-shapes and the area of
the six rectangles that make
up the surface of the shape.

total surface area

= (2 × 22) + 18 + 9 + 12 + 6
+ 6 + 15
= 110 cm2

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Using nets to find surface area
It can be helpful to use the net of a 3-D shape to calculate its
surface area.

Here is the net of a 3 cm by 5 cm by 6 cm cuboid.

6 cm
Write down
3 cm 18 cm2 3 cm
the area of
6 cm each face.
Then add the
5 cm 15 cm2 30 cm2 15 cm2 30 cm2 areas together
to find the
surface area.
3 cm 18 cm2 3 cm surface area
= 126 cm2

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Using nets to find surface area
Here is the net of a regular tetrahedron.

What is its surface area?

area of
= ½ bh
each face
= ½ × 6 × 5.2

= 15.6 cm2
5.2 cm
surface area = 4 × 15.6
= 62.4 cm2 6 cm

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Area and Volume

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Volume of a cuboid
We can find the volume of a cuboid by multiplying the area of
the base by the height.

The area of the base

= length × width

So:

volume of a cuboid
= length × width × height
= lwh

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Volume of a cuboid
What is the volume of this cuboid?

volume of cuboid

= length × width × height

= 13 × 8 × 5

= 520 cm3

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Eureka!

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Volume and displacement

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Volume and displacement
By dropping cubes and cuboids into a measuring cylinder
half filled with water we can see the connection between the
volume of the shape and the volume of the water displaced.

1 ml of water has a volume of 1 cm3.

If an object is dropped into a measuring cylinder and

displaces 5 ml of water then the volume of the object
is 5 cm3.

What is the volume of 1 litre of water?

1 litre of water has a volume of 1000 cm3.

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Volume of a prism made from cuboids
What is the volume of this L-shaped prism?

We can think of the shape as

two cuboids joined together.

volume of the green cuboid

= 6 × 3 × 3 = 54 cm3
6cm volume of the blue cuboid

= 3 × 2 × 2 = 12 cm3

total volume

= 54 + 12 = 66 cm3

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Volume of a prism
Remember, a prism is a 3-D shape with the same
cross-section throughout its length.

We can think of this prism as lots

of L-shaped surfaces running
along the length of the shape.

volume of a prism
= area of cross-section × length

If the cross-section has an area

of 22 cm2 and the length is 3 cm:

volume of L-shaped prism = 22 × 3 = 66 cm3

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Volume of a prism
What is the volume of this triangular prism?

area of cross-section
=½×5×4
= 10 cm2

volume of prism
= 10 × 7.2
= 72 cm3

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Volume of a prism
What is the volume of this prism?

12 m area of cross-section
= (7 × 12) – (4 × 3)
4m
7m = 84 – 12
3m
= 72 m2

5m volume of prism
= 5 × 72
= 360 m3

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