A polygon defines a geometric shape that is made up of sides. In other words, under the umbrella of polygons fall the following square, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, and many more.
A polygon defines a geometric shape that is made up of sides. In other words, under the umbrella of polygons fall the following square, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, and many more.
For example, a triangle has 3 sides, every quadrilateral has 4 sides, and so on.
We have already learned to calculate the areas of standard polygons. There are also non-standard polygons, for which there is no specific formula. However, their area of complex shapes can be calculated using two methods:
Let's demonstrate this using a simple exercise:
Here is a drawing of a polygon.
We need to calculate its area. From the start, we can see that this is not a standard polygon, so we will use the first method to calculate its area. We will divide the polygon as shown in the drawing, and we should obtain two rectangles.
According to the data shown in the drawing, in the rectangle on the right side we obtain the side lengths of 3 and 6, therefore the area of the rectangle will be 18 (multiplication of the two values). In the rectangle on the left side we obtain the side lengths of 4 and 7, therefore the area of the rectangle will be 28 (multiplication of the two values). Thus, the total area of the polygon will be the sum of the two areas we calculated separately, meaning, 18+28=46.
Look at the rectangle ABCD below.
Side AB is 6 cm long and side BC is 4 cm long.
What is the area of the rectangle?
In 7th grade we focus on learning about several polygons (click on the links for in-depth reading):
The formula for calculating the area of a polygon varies according to the polygon in question. (Click on the titles to read the full articles including examples and practice)
Look at the rectangle ABCD below.
Side AB is 4.5 cm long and side BC is 2 cm long.
What is the area of the rectangle?
Look at rectangle ABCD below.
Side AB is 10 cm long and side BC is 2.5 cm long.
What is the area of the rectangle?
The triangle ABC is given below.
AC = 10 cm
AD = 3 cm
BC = 11.6 cm
What is the area of the triangle?
The formula for calculating the area of a rectangle is: width X length.
The formula for calculating the area of any triangle: base X height divided by 2
What is the area of the given triangle?
What is the area of the triangle in the drawing?
Given the trapezoid:
What is the area?
In the case of a right triangle's area, it's the same formula, but the height is actually one of the sides
The area of a parallelogram is calculated by multiplying one of its sides by the height.
For example in the drawing, you can calculate the area of the parallelogram by multiplying DC by h1 and then dividing by 2, or by multiplying BC by h2 and then dividing by 2
The trapezoid ABCD is shown below.
Base AB = 6 cm
Base DC = 10 cm
Height (h) = 5 cm
Calculate the area of the trapezoid.
The trapezoid ABCD is shown below.
AB = 2.5 cm
DC = 4 cm
Height (h) = 6 cm
Calculate the area of the trapezoid.
The trapezoid ABCD is shown below.
AB = 5 cm
DC = 9 cm
Height (h) = 7 cm
Calculate the area of the trapezoid.
The formula for calculating the area of a trapezoid is the sum of the two bases X the height divided by 2
Look at the rectangle ABCD below.
Given in cm:
AB = 10
BC = 5
Calculate the area of the rectangle.
ABCD is a rectangle.
Given in cm:
AB = 7
BC = 5
Calculate the area of the rectangle.
Calculate the area of the triangle ABC using the data in the figure.
Look at the rectangle ABCD below.
Side AB is 6 cm long and side BC is 4 cm long.
What is the area of the rectangle?
Remember that the formula for the area of a rectangle is width times height
We are given that the width of the rectangle is 6
and that the length of the rectangle is 4
Therefore we calculate:
6*4=24
24 cm²
Look at the rectangle ABCD below.
Side AB is 4.5 cm long and side BC is 2 cm long.
What is the area of the rectangle?
We begin by multiplying side AB by side BC
We then substitute the given data and we obtain the following:
Hence the area of rectangle ABCD equals 9
9 cm²
Look at rectangle ABCD below.
Side AB is 10 cm long and side BC is 2.5 cm long.
What is the area of the rectangle?
Let's begin by multiplying side AB by side BC
If we insert the known data into the above equation we should obtain the following:
Thus the area of rectangle ABCD equals 25.
25 cm²
The triangle ABC is given below.
AC = 10 cm
AD = 3 cm
BC = 11.6 cm
What is the area of the triangle?
The triangle we are looking at is the large triangle - ABC
The triangle is formed by three sides AB, BC, and CA.
Now let's remember what we need for the calculation of a triangular area:
(side x the height that descends from the side)/2
Therefore, the first thing we must find is a suitable height and side.
We are given the side AC, but there is no descending height, so it is not useful to us.
The side AB is not given,
And so we are left with the side BC, which is given.
From the side BC descends the height AD (the two form a 90-degree angle).
It can be argued that BC is also a height, but if we delve deeper it seems that CD can be a height in the triangle ADC,
and BD is a height in the triangle ADB (both are the sides of a right triangle, therefore they are the height and the side).
As we do not know if the triangle is isosceles or not, it is also not possible to know if CD=DB, or what their ratio is, and this theory fails.
Let's remember again the formula for triangular area and replace the data we have in the formula:
(side* the height that descends from the side)/2
Now we replace the existing data in this formula:
17.4
What is the area of the given triangle?
This question is a bit confusing. We need start by identifying which parts of the data are relevant to us.
Remember the formula for the area of a triangle:
The height is a straight line that comes out of an angle and forms a right angle with the opposite side.
In the drawing we have a height of 6.
It goes down to the opposite side whose length is 5.
And therefore, these are the data points that we will use.
We replace in the formula:
15