area of squares, rectangles, parallelograms, and triangles

Area of Squares, Rectangles, Parallelograms, and Triangles

The area of a shape is the number of square units contained within it.

This shape has an area of 5 square units, or 5 units²

Rectangles are made up of equal-sized rows of unit squares. Therefore, multiply how many squares are in each row by the number of rows.

Area of rectangle = length x width

Squares are specific rectangles so their area is also calculated by length x width. However, since all sides are equal, we can say

Area of square = side x side = side²

Parallelograms can be turned into rectangles so they also share the same area formula.

Make sure you use the base and the height, which are perpendicular (form right angles with each other).

Base = 5 m and height = 3 m because they form a right angle. The 4 m (called slant height) is not used at all.

Area = base x height = 5 m x 3 m = 15 m²

A parallelogram can always be divided into two triangles with the same base and height.

Since base x height is the area of the full parallelogram and a triangle is only half of a parallelogram, multiply by ½

Area of a triangle = ½ x base x height

Direct Station We will go through a Pearson lesson which focuses

on finding the area of other shapes.

Remember, the way we found the total degrees in any polygon was to split it up into simpler shapes. Perhaps we can use a similar strategy for area.

Independent Station You will complete an activity and game in order to

review perimeter of rectangles and then complete a Google Form.

Make sure yoursound is off!