Area of polygons

Calculating the Area of a Square

How to find the area of a square:
  • The area of a square can be found by multiplying the base times itself. This is similar to the area of a rectangle but the base is the same length as the height.
  • If a square has a base of length 6 cm its area is 6*6=36 square centimetres

Calculating the Area of a Rectangle

How to find the area of a rectangle:
  • The area of a rectangle can be found by multiplying the base times the height.
  • If a rectangle has a base of length 6 inches and a height of 4 cm, its area is 6*4=24 square centimetres

Calculating the Area of a Parallelogram

How to find the area of a parallelogram:
  • The area of a parallelogram can be found by multiplying the base times the height.
  • If a parallelogram has a base of length 6 cm and a height of 4 cm, its area is 6*4=24 square centimetres

Calculating the Area of a Trapezoid

A trapezoid is a quadrilateral (has 4 sides) and has only one pair of sides parallel.
    How to determine the area of a trapezoid:
  • Add the lengths of the 2 parallel sides
  • divide by 2 to get the average length of the parallel sides.
  • Multiply this by the height (distance between the parallel sides

Calculating the Area of a Triangle

How to find the area of a triangle:
  • The area of a triangle can be found by multiplying the base times the one-half the height.
  • If a triangle has a base of length 6 cm and a height of 4 cm, its area is 6*2=12 square cm

Visit this interactive web site on area and perimeter of polygons and circles