Year 7 Area & Perimeter

Dr J Frost ([email protected])
Objectives: Find the area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles,
parallelograms, trapeziums, circles (and fractions of circles) and
composite shapes.
Use a variety of additive and subtractive techniques to find area of
complex shapes, and find fractions of shapes shaded.

Last modified: 22nd July 2018

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For Teacher Use:
Recommended lesson structure:

Lesson 1: Area and perimeter of rectilinear shapes. Go >

Lesson 2: Area of triangles, parallelograms and trapeziums. Go >
Lesson 3-4: Area and circumference of circles. Fractions of circles. Go >
Lesson 5: Additive and subtractive methods for area. (Including moving parts of a shape to ‘fill Go >
in gaps’)
Lesson 6: Levelled Activity: Additive and subtractive methods Go >
Lesson 7: Fraction of area shaded (includes principles of (a) splitting into congruent shapes (b) the Go >
area of two triangles with the same base are proportional to the height, and equal if height is same).
Lesson 8: Consolidation/Mini-assessment
RECAP :: Area of Rectangles

Area means:
?
the amount of space something takes up in 2D.

2cm
Area cm2?
4cm If the squares are ‘unit squares’ (i.e. have
length and height 1) then finding the area
amounts to counting squares.

Perimeter = 12 cm
?
Rectilinear Shapes
A rectilinear shape is one whose edges all meet at right angles.

Copy this shape into your books and determine:

a) The area
b) The perimeter

2cm
A few thoughts:
• Is it possible to find the area in two
different ways?
• Is there a super clever way to find the
perimeter without finding all the lengths?

10cm

3cm

10cm
Rectilinear Shapes
2cm

#
7cm

10cm 1 8cm
#
2 3cm

10cm
Area cm2 ?
Perimeter = 40 cm
?
Show ‘Additive’ Show ‘Subtractive’
Method Method We can add all the lengths. But note that the
length of the dotted lines is the same as the 7cm
Area of 1: cm2 Area = and 8cm. Thus we can just use the perimeter of
Area of 2: cm2 cm2 a single rectangle! i.e.
Total area = 44 cm2
Check Your Understanding
12m

a What is the area?

m2
?
7m What is the perimeter?
b
m
?
13m The diagram forms the outline of
c
Bob’s garden. He wants to turf
8m the whole garden, which costs
£5.20 per m2, and put fencing
around it, which costs £60 per m.
What will be the total cost?

?
Changes which preserve perimeter
(The triangle
before cutting is
equilateral)
8
8

1 1
We’ve seen that cutting a corner
out of a rectangle for example Perimeter = 23
preserves perimeter (the red and ?
blue lines are equal in length)

[JMC 2008 Q8] The shape on the right is made

up of three rectangles, each measuring 3cm by
1cm. What is the perimeter of the shape?
A 16cm B 18cm C 20cm
D 24cm E More information needed

A B C D E
 Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

7m 6cm
1 2 22m

a b
4cm
14m
12m 9cm
?
4m
Area = 34cm 2
12m
?
P = 30cm
Boris wants to build a car park. It
3m
2m
?2
Area = 78m costs £35 per m2 of tarmac and £24
per metre of hedge to go around the
P = 38m
? 2cm border. What is the total cost?
?
£1728 + £9380 = £11108

3 4 5 18m
7cm

2cm
5cm 8cm
16m

8cm
5cm
The perimeter of this shape is These rectangles are
?
Area = 94cm 2 80cm. What is its area? congruent. Find the area
?
P = 50cm ?
250cm2 and perimeter of the
?
shape. A= 192m2 P = 68m
Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

6 [JMO 2011 A2] Two rectangles measuring 6 cm × 7

cm and 8 cm × 9 cm overlap as shown. The region
shaded grey has an area of 32 cm2. What is the area
of the black region?
Solution:?62 cm2

7 [JMC 2000 Q12] Four rectangular paper strips, each

measuring 10cm by 1cm, are laid flat on a table. Each
strip is at right angles to two of the other strips as
shown. What is the area of the table covered by the
strips?
A 30 cm2 B 32 cm2C 34 cm2
D 36 cm2 E 38 cm2
Solution:?D

8 [JMC 1998 Q14] How much smaller (in cm2) is the

area of a 60cm by 40cm rectangle than that of a
square with the same perimeter?
100 cm2
?
Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

9 [JMO 2015 A3] The diagram shows one square inside another. The
perimeter of the shaded region has length 24 cm. What is the area
of the larger square?
?
Solution: 36 cm2

10 [JMC 2010 Q15] A 6 by 8 and a 7 by 9 rectangle overlap with one

corner coinciding as shown. What is the area (in square units) of the
region outside the overlap?
?
Solution: 27

11 [Kangaroo Pink 2013 Q2] The diagram shows six identical squares,
each containing a shaded region.

How many of the regions have perimeter equal in length to the

perimeter of one of the squares?
A 2B 3 C 4 D 5E 6
?
Solution: C
Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

12 [Junior Kangaroo 2015 Q15] A rectangular garden is

surrounded by a path of constant width. The perimeter of the
garden is 24 m shorter than the distance along the outside
edge of the path. What is the width of the path?
Solution: ?
3m

13 [JMC 2004 Q24] Five identical rectangles fit together as

shown. What, in cm2, is the total area which they cover?
?
Solution: 270
 Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

14 [JMC 2013 Q24] Three congruent squares overlap as shown. The areas
of the three overlapping sections are 2 cm2, 5 cm2 and 8 cm2
respectively. The total area of the non-overlapping parts of the squares
is 117 cm2. What is the side-length of each square? (Hint: make the
area of a square then consider what the area of the non-overlapping
part would be in terms of )
Solution: 7cm () ?
15 [Kangaroo Grey 2014 Q11] Five equal rectangles are placed inside a
square with side 24 cm, as shown in the diagram. What is the area in
cm2 of one rectangle? (Hint: assign variables to the length and width of
each rectangle. Can you get two equations from this?)
?
Solution: 32

16 [Kangaroo Grey 2011 Q14] A square piece of paper is cut into six
rectangular pieces as shown in the diagram. When the lengths of the
perimeters of the six rectangular pieces are added together, the result
is 120 cm. What is the area of the square piece of paper?
? cm2
Solution: 144
Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

17 [JMC 2001 Q25] The diagram shows four overlapping squares

which have sides 5, 7, 9 and 11. What is the difference between
the total area shaded grey and the total area shaded black?
A 25 B 36 C 49 D 64
E more information needed
Solution: Pulling the squares apart doesn’t affect the difference
in areas. Thus
?
18 [JMC 2008 Q25] A large square is divided into adjacent pairs of
smaller squares with integer sides, as shown in the diagram
(which is not drawn to scale). Each size of smaller square occurs
only twice. The shaded square has sides of length 10. What is the
area of the large square?
A 1024 B 1089 C 1156
D 1296 E 1444

? D
Solution:
Exercise 1 (Questions on provided sheet)

19 [Kangaroo Grey 2011 Q21] The diagram on the right shows a

square with side 3 cm inside a square with side 7 cm and
another square with side 5 cm which intersects the first two
squares. What is the difference between the area of the
black region and the total area of the grey regions?
A 0cm2 B 10cm2 C 11cm2
D 15cm2 E more information needed

? D
Solution:

20 [Maclaurin 2006 Q4] The nonagon shown shaded in the

diagram has been made by removing three pieces from an
equilateral triangle of side 12. All nine edges of the nonagon
are parallel to sides of the triangle. Three edges have lengths
1, 2 and 3 as shown.
Calculate the length of the perimeter of the nonagon.

? 30
Solution:
Area of a Triangle

! Area of triangle =

perp height
?

base

Examples

5cm
3cm 3cm 4cm

4cm
8cm
6cm 3cm
?2
Area = 6cm
?2
Area = 12cm ?2
Area = 12cm
Bro Note: Notice how the perpendicular height may
be measured outside the triangle! Just ensure you
measure perpendicular to the base.
Area of a Triangle
7m
Quickfire Questions

4.5m
13m 13m 25m
4m 3m 7m
12m 12.2m 10m
3.5m 24m 6m
10m
Area = 6m?2 Area = 60m
? 2 ?2
Area = 84m
?2
Area = 21m
11m
14.4m

14m 7m 4m

14.4m

6m
?
Area = 49m 2
Area = 10m?2
Parallelograms

! Area of parallelogram =

perp height
?
We can see it’ll Click for
be exactly the Broanimation
same formula
as a rectangle!
base
Bro Note: This is known as the
Quickfire Questions ‘slant height’, which you should
be able to distinguish from the
‘perpendicular height’. 10cm 4cm
8cm
7cm
3cm
4cm 5cm 1cm

6cm ?2
Area = 30cm
? 2
Area = 32cm 8cm ? 2
Area = 42cm
Area of a Trapezium
A trapezium is a quadrilateral with a pair of parallel sides.

! Area of trapezium =

𝑎
Click for
Broanimation

h Can you sort of see that if we were to

‘average out’ the two parallel sides and
use this as the width of a rectangle, it
has the same area as the trapezium?
avg of𝑏and
Area of a Trapezium
Examples
Bro Tip: It may help to
identify the parallel
7m
sides first (if not
5cm
already indicated).
4cm 2cm 8m
10m

8m
Area = cm2 ?
Area = m2 ?
9cm

9cm 7cm

5cm
Area = cm2 ?
 Use your diary coloured cards to vote
for the correct answer in each question.
(Use the front of your diary for blue)

RED ORANGE GREEN BLUE

 Calculate the area of this shape.
7cm

6cm
5cm

9cm

48 cm2 40cm2 45cm2 38.5 cm2

 Calculate the area of this shape.

10cm
8cm

6cm

24cm2 30cm2 48cm2 40cm2

 Calculate the area of this shape.

9cm
7cm

2cm 5cm

49cm2 45cm2 35cm2 56cm2

Calculate the area of the shaded area.

3cm

4cm 2cm

3cm2 6cm2 9cm2 12cm2

 Calculate the area of this shape.
5.8cm
4cm
9.9cm

3cm

5cm

20cm2 35cm2 23.2cm2 27.5 cm2

 Calculate the area of this shape.
6cm

4cm
10cm 5cm

6cm

48 cm2 40cm2 45cm2 30cm2

 Exercise 2
1 a b c 6cm
15cm
12cm 6cm 7cm 5cm

9cm 8cm 12cm

?2
Area = 54 cm ?2
Area = 48 cm
?2
Area = 45 cm
9cm
d e 5cm
1cm f
6cm
5cm
3cm
7cm
9cm 2cm
10cm
9cm
?
Area = 27 cm 2
?2
Area = 63 cm ?2
Area = 21 cm
g 11cm
h Area = 240?cm2
Area = 34 ?
cm2 26cm 26cm
4cm 10cm
7cm

6cm 48cm
Exercise 2
2 3

20cm
If the area is 50cm2 and the base
[JMC 2014 Q9] Triangles and are drawn on a
20cm, what is the perpendicular
square grid. What fraction of the area of
height? Solution:? 5cm triangle is the area of triangle ?
Solution:
4
?
5 Bob has a garden in
the shape of a
8m trapezium. If it costs
[JMC 2009 Q6] Each square in the figure 15m 10m £15.22 per m2 of turf,
is 1 unit by 1 unit. What is the area of how much will it cost
triangle (in square units)? to turf his garden?

? 4.5
Solution: ? £1522
Solution:
Exercise 2
6 [IMC 2005 Q9] Which of the following shaded
regions has an area different from the other
shaded regions?

Solution: All have an area of 3 except for D

(which has an area of?2.5)

7 [SMC 2003 Q2] Triangle has a right angle at . The points and divide the side into
quarters. Which of the following statements about the areas of the triangles is true?
A All have the same area
B is biggest
C is biggest
D is biggest
E is biggest
Solution: A (note, this principle will be very important in a few lessons time)
?
Exercise 2
8
𝐶 9 𝐴
6cm
𝐸
4cm 𝐸
?

13cm

12c
m
𝐴 𝐷 𝐵 𝐷
9cm 10c
m
If cm, , is a point such that is 𝐵 𝐶
perpendicular to and , is a point such
that is perpendicular to , then what is In the diagram, and cm. Determine the
the length of ? length , leaving your answer as a fraction.
Solution: 6cm Solution: cm
The really important principle here is The area of
that we have multiple choices for the If is the midpoint of , then we could
base of the triangle, and that the area have used as the base of the triangle
?
of the triangle obviously does not and as the perpendicular height. So and
change depending on which we use. hence . Therefore ?
Exercise 2
10 𝑎

6cm

10cm
The area of this parallelogram is
51cm2. Determine .
Solution: 7cm
?
Circles
Firstly, can you identify the parts of a circle?
nce
mf?ere
u
circ ! Area of circle = ?
Circumference = or
?
is a mathematical constant, with the value
ter
m?e

rad? You can find it on your calculator (use SHIFT).

ius
dia

𝑟 It is defined as the scale factor between the

diameter of a circle and the circumference, but is
used in other parts of maths (e.g. Number Theory!)

Side Question: What is the difference in algebra between a variable and a constant?
is a ‘constant’ because its value is ‘constant’, i.e. it can’t change, and its value is
known in advance. A ‘variable’ can vary, e.g.? if represents a length, it’s value could
change. Another well known constant is maths is , which is the Golden Ratio.
Circles
Examples Bro Note: Be careful about BIDMAS.
means not

(Give your answers to 1 decimal place)

3cm
Area cm2 ?
Circumference cm ?

8m Area m2 ?
Circumference cm ?
Giving ‘exact’ answers

𝜋 =3.14159265357989 …
The digits of go on forever, and it can’t be expressed as a fraction involving whole
numbers.

For that reason, it is not possible to give an exact answer involving in ‘decimal form’
(i.e. where we list out all the digits), as at some point we’d have to round.

We leave the in the answer if we wish to express the answer ‘exactly’.

(In maths challenges/Olympiads, you are required to give answers in exact form.)

What is the area of the circle:

a) In decimal form to 1dp? cm2 ?
10cm b) In exact form? cm2 ?
Bro Note: Just as we’d write numbers before
variables, e.g. and not , we write numbers
before constants, so and never .
Test Your Understanding (so far)

4.6 cm
Give your answers to 1 decimal place.

Area cm2 ?
Circumference cm ?

Give your answers in exact form.

16 Area ?
Circumference ?
Game!
Everyone stand up. Each of you will be asked, one at a time, and in your head, to find
either the area () or the circumference () of a circle. Answer must be in exact form.

If you get it wrong, you sit down, and the person who last sat down has the
opportunity to ‘steal’, where they will be able to stand up again if they correct the
answer.

Example

𝐶=8 ?𝜋

Your teacher may impose a time limit per question.

Game!

1 1 6 4 4 5

𝐴=𝜋
? 𝐶=2?𝜋 𝐴=9 ?𝜋 𝐶=4 ?𝜋 𝐴=4 ?𝜋 𝐴=25? 𝜋

8 7 12 7 10 18

𝐶=8 ?𝜋 𝐶=14? 𝜋 𝐴=36? 𝜋 𝐴=49?𝜋 𝐶=20? 𝜋 𝐴=81? 𝜋

3 17 9 14 3 11

𝐴=9?𝜋 𝐶=17?𝜋 𝐶=18?𝜋 𝐴=49?𝜋 𝐶=3?𝜋 𝐶=22?𝜋

(Slide note: You can press anywhere or use the right key to advance)
Game!

8 7 4 5 18 4

𝐴=64?𝜋 𝐶=14?𝜋 𝐴=4?𝜋 𝐶=5?𝜋 𝐴=81? 𝜋 𝐴=16? 𝜋

15 13 14 2 15 22

𝐶=15𝜋
? 𝐶=26? 𝜋 𝐴=49? 𝜋 𝐴=4?𝜋 𝐶=30? 𝜋 𝐴=121
?𝜋

12 1 5 20 19 8

? 𝐶=10? 𝜋 𝐴=100
𝐴=144? 𝜋 𝐶=𝜋 ? 𝜋 𝐶=19?𝜋 𝐶=16? 𝜋
 Exercise 3
1 Find the area and circumference of 3 A car wheel of diameter 35cm spins on a road.
the following circles, giving your Over 2000cm, how many full rotations will the
wheel have made?
answer to 1dp.
a
times
?
b A circular lawn has radius 50m. Each box of
3cm 8cm 4 grass seed costs £5.99 and covers 60m2 of
lawn. What is the cost to seed the whole
lawn?
cm2 ? cm2 ? m2
cm ? cm ? boxes
?
c d
7.2m
6.4m 5 The radius of the Earth is 6371km. Light can
travel 300,000km each second. How many
m2 ? cm2? times can light encircle the Earth in a second?
m ? cm ?
times
?
2 And give your answer in exact form: 6 The area of a circular disc is 100cm . What is
2

its diameter? cm
a b ?
7 16 As the radius of a circle increases, which graph
N shows how (a) the circumference increases
and (b) the area increases?
? ? (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Solution:
?
? ?
a) i
𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 𝑟 b) iii
Fractions of circles

Give your answer in

exact form.

Area
?

Perimeter Note ‘perimeter’ and

not ‘circumference’.

6 ?
A few more examples

Area

Perimeter
?
8
?

Area

Perimeter
?

?
10
Test Your Understanding
i Give your answer to 1dp.
Area
cm2
?
Perimeter
cm
?
7cm

ii Give your answer in exact form.

Area
16
Perimeter
?

?
 Exercise 4
1 Find the area and perimeter of the 3 Give exact answers.
2
following, giving your answers to 1dp. a b
a b 6cm 1

5cm
𝝅
? 𝝅
𝑨= ?
? cm2 ? 𝑨= 𝟐
cm2
cm ? cm ? 𝟒
? ?
c d 4 Fred Flintstone’s car has two different wheels: one
3.7m circular in shape and the other semicircular. The diameter
of the semicircular wheel is 1.3m. What radius is needed
for the circular wheel so that the wheels make the same
5.3m number of full circulations over any journey? (Give your
m2 ? m2 ? answer to 3dp)
m ? m ? ?
Solution: 0.532m

2 Give exact answers.

12
a b
10

1.3m

? ?
𝑨=𝟐𝟓 𝝅 𝑨=𝟏𝟖 𝝅
STARTER

[IMC 2011 Q5] The diagram

shows a rectangle placed on
a grid of 1cm 1cm squares.
What is the area of the
rectangle in cm2?
A 15 B
C 30 D 36
E 45

A B C D E
Additive and Subtractive Methods
A reminder…

12m Additive method:

(i.e. adding areas)

m2 ?
7m
Subtractive method:
(i.e. subtracting areas)
13m
m2 ?

4m
Additive Method Examples

10m
8m 6m

10m
8m
m2
m2
? ?
25m

10m m2 ?
Test Your Understanding
30m
i
Rectangle:
10m
Circle: ?
Total m2

ii
14m

Rectangle:
DEATH Trapezium:
12m 8m Semicircle:
?
LASER Total m2

25m
Subtractive Method Examples
What is the area of the black region in each case? (expressed exactly)

8
20

𝐴=𝟔𝟒− 𝟏𝟔
? 𝝅 𝐴=𝟐𝟎− 𝟓𝟎
? 𝝅
Test Your Understanding
8
i
Exact area of black region:
4 ?

Bro Tip: Try and combine parts of circles

to form full circles where possible.

ii [JMO 2015 A5] Two circles of radius 1 cm fit

exactly between two parallel lines, as shown in 1cm
the diagram. The centres of the circles are 3
3cm
cm apart. What is the area of the shaded
region bounded by the circles and the lines?

Solution: Cut two half circles (i.e. one full

?
circle) out of a rectangle, i.e. The brackets ensures the unit of ‘cm2’
cm2 applies to the 6 rather than just the
(BIDMAS applies to units as well!)
A More Interesting One…

How would you find this shaded area?

1 We can start with a quarter circle,
which has area .
We than cut out a triangle with base 1
and height 1. Its area is
The area is therefore:?

1
What about this?
It’s just twice the area before:
?

Bro Note: Maths Challenge/Olympiad enthusiasts

take note – these two shapes are quite common!
The ‘Frame’ Method
Sometimes we can subtract areas when it isn’t obvious we can do so.
We can do this by drawing a rectangle (i.e. ‘frame’) around the shape.

[Kangaroo Grey 2013 Q15] The diagram shows

a shaded quadrilateral drawn on a grid. Each
cell of the grid has sides of length 2 cm. What
is the area of quadrilateral ?
A 96cm2 B 84cm2
C 76cm2 D 88cm2
E 104cm2

By starting with the area of the ‘frame’ and

subtracting the 4 triangles and 1 square: Click to Bro Frame

?
Check Your Understanding

The pictured triangle is a grid of

unit width.
Use the ‘frame method’ to find
the area of the triangle.

Area ?
Cutting and Reforming
We have seen we can add areas and subtract areas.
But a third way we can sometimes use is to cut the shape up, and put it back
together in such a way that gives us a simpler shape.

[IMC 2004 Q12] This figure is made from a

straight line 16cm long and two quarter circles,
one with its centre at the midpoint of the
straight line. What is the area of the figure (in
cm2)?
A 64 B
C D
E

8cm
? Answer: A ?
Test Your Understanding

[JMO 2014 A4] The figure shows two shapes

that fit together exactly. Each shape is
formed by four semicircles of radius 1. What
is the total shaded area?

? Area
2
 Exercise 5 (Questions on provided sheet)

Find the shaded/enclosed areas (giving your answer exactly).

1 a b 2 2 c 2 2
1

6
1 1

Solution:? ?
Solution: Solution:?

d e f 2
2

8
4

4
Solution:? Solution:? ?
Solution:
Exercise 5 (Questions on provided sheet)

2 If these grids are unit (1cm) width/height, determine

the area of the triangles.
? 12 cm2
Solution: Solution:?14.5 cm2
a b

c d

Solution:?14 cm2 ? 10 cm2

Solution:
Exercise 5 (Questions on provided sheet)

3 4

[JMC 2007 Q19] Given cm. What in

cm2, is the area of the shape?
A B C
D E [JMO 2008 A10] The perimeter of the shape
shown on the right is made from 20 quarter-
Solution: A circles, each with radius 2 cm. What is the area
? of the shape?
Solution: cm ?2

5 [IMC 1997 Q17] The point is the centre of a circle of radius 1

unit, , are radii, and is a square. What is the area of the
shaded region (in square units)?
Solution:
?
Exercise 5 (Questions on provided sheet)

6 [IMC 2009 Q13] The diagram on the right shows a

rectangle with sides of length 5cm and 4cm. All
the arcs are quarter-circles of radius 2cm. What is
the total shaded area in cm2?
A B C
D 10 E
Solution: A (by reforming we can form two
rectangles with a quarter ?circle removed)

7 [IMC 2012 Q19] The shaded region shown in the

diagram is bounded by four arcs, each of the
same radius as that of the surrounding circle.
What fraction of the surrounding circle is shaded?
A B C
D E depends on radius

Solution: A
?
Exercise 5 (Questions on provided sheet)

8 [STMC Regional 2007/08 Q5] The square in the diagram

below has sides of length two units. The shaded sections
are enclosed by 4 semi-circles. Calculate the exact value
of the total area of the unshaded regions.

Solution: The indicated region is a square with a quarter

? eight of these, so
circle removed, i.e. . We have

[Based on Hamilton 2010 Q4] The diagram shows a quarter-circle

N
with centre O and two semicircular arcs with diameters OA and
OB. Let
Calculate the difference between the area of the region shaded
grey and the area of the region shaded black.
As per example, each half of grey petal is a quarter circle with a
triangle removed, thus area is
Black area is a large quarter circle ) with two small quarter
circles removed ) and a square ().?
Thus area is .
These are the same area, so difference is 0.
Area/Perimeter Levelled Challenge!
Instructions:
Everyone starts on Level 1 questions.
Write your answers on the provided sheet. Your areas/perimeters must be in
exact form.
means (shaded) area is wanted. means perimeter is wanted.

Once you have completed all the questions for Level 1 you have permission to
go to the front of the classroom to check your answers (your teacher will stick
the answers to the board).

If these are right you can then ask the teacher for the Level 2 questions. You
will need to check your answers for these (and Level 3) with the teacher.

You may work in pairs if you wish.

LEVEL 1 :: Solutions
1 2

2
1 2
1
2 2

𝐴=3.5
? 𝑃=6 +𝜋
?
3 4
2
3 2 3

𝑃=6?𝜋 𝐴=10 −? 𝜋
LEVEL 1 :: Solutions

5 6

8
4 (Hint: count how many
quarter circles you have)

𝐴=64 −2
? 𝜋 𝑃=16 𝜋
?
LEVEL 2 :: Solutions

1 2

6 1 1 1

𝐴=9 𝜋?
3
[Kangaroo Pink 2015 Q2]
𝐴=6 𝜋?
4 [Kangaroo Pink 2005 Q13]

𝐴=8? 𝐴=8?
LEVEL 2 :: Solutions
[JMO 2003 A8]

5
There are two semicircles
with radius 4cm and four
semicircles with radius 2cm.
[IMC 2003 Q17]

𝐴=64?
1

𝐴=2+ ?𝜋
LEVEL 3 :: Solutions
[Kangaroo Grey 2004 Q11]
1 2

2 2 2 2 2 2

𝐴=2?
3
𝐴=15 𝜋
?

2
𝐴=𝜋 −? 2
STARTER :: Fractions of Shapes Shaded
What fraction of the following shapes is shaded?

1 2

1 1
? ?
2 4

3 It seems like a good

2
strategy is to break up
the picture into shapes
? of the same size (we say
3 these shapes are
‘congruent’).
Test Your Understanding
The diagram shows a design formed by drawing six lines in a
regular hexagon. The lines divide each edge of the hexagon
into three equal parts. What fraction of the hexagon is shaded?

A B C D E Bro Reminder: Remember,

the advice was to try and split
the diagram up into shapes
which are all congruent.

After adding the lines to break

up the shape into small
triangles, we could just count
the total triangles and shaded
triangles. ?
But since the pattern in the
blue region is repeated, we
could just find the fraction
shaded in this, which is .
Murray Maths

Click for
Murranimation >

Murray travels of the way

from one corner of his
space on the court to the
other.

2 Q: What fraction of the

court does Murray cover in
3 the horizontal direction?

He’ll be of the way across

horizontally as well (and
? vertically)
also of the way
2
3
Comparing Triangles
What can we say about the area of
these two triangles?
They have the same base and same
(perpendicular) height, so must have the same
area. ?
1 1
What fraction of the larger triangle is
shaded, and why?
2 Suppose we consider the bottom the base.
The bases are the same length.
The small triangle goes a third of the way up the
1 slant height, and thus (using
? Murray Maths!) the
vertical height will also be a third.
Overall therefore the smaller triangle is of the area
of the larger triangle.
Example

[JMO 2001 A10] What fraction of

triangle is shaded?

If is considered the base this time, the shaded triangle is

of the base length.
The slant height is that of the big triangle and thus so is
the perpendicular height. 2
Overall it’s of the size. ?
1

2 1
BASE
Test Your Understanding
By considering what fraction the shaded triangle’s
base and height is of the larger triangle, work out the 1
fraction of the shape shaded.

Fraction of width ?
Fraction of (perpendicular) height
2
Overall fraction ?
?
1 1
Harder!
[SMC 2003 Q21] The outer equilateral triangle has
area 1. The points are a quarter of the way along the
sides as shown. What is the area of the equilateral
triangle ? 1
A B C D E 4
3
Take bottom left triangle. It’s of the area. There’s three of them, 4
so fraction occupies is ?
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q1 The diagram contains six equilateral triangles with sides of

length 2 and a regular hexagon with sides of length 1.
What fraction of the whole shape is shaded?

A B C D E

1
?
5
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q2 The diagram shows an equilateral triangle with its corners at the mid-
points of alternate sides of a regular hexagon. What fraction of the area of
the hexagon is shaded?

A B C D E

3?
8
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q3 [JMC 2007 Q5] In the diagram, the small squares are all the same size.
What fraction of the large square is shaded?

A B C D E

This pattern is repeated,

and 1/2 of each small
square is shaded.
?
1
2
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q4 [JMC 2001 Q9] In the diagram, a corner of the shaded star is at the
midpoint of each side of the large square. What fraction of the large
square is covered by the star?
A B C D E

Each quarter of the shape is

repeated. In each quarter, a
quarter is shaded.
?
1
4
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q5 [JMC 2015 Q22] The diagram shows a shaded region inside a regular
hexagon. The shaded region is divided into equilateral triangles. What
fraction of the area of the hexagon is shaded?
A B C D E

As always it’s helpful to focus

on a repeated portion of the
shape. We can see the
fraction shaded now is:
?
1
?
2
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q6 Determine the fraction of each square each region within it is.

a b 1
1 116 ? 7
4 ?
16
?
3 16
?
8 1 7
1 ?
4
?
16
?
8

c d 1
3 1
? ? 1
1
? 1
?
8
16 4 ? 4 3
1
16 ? 16
8 ?
1
?
16 1 3 ? 3
?
4 ?
16
16
1 ?
? 16
16
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q7 [JMO 1999 A10] What fraction of the whole square is occupied by the
shaded square?

1
10?
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q8 [IMC 2004 Q25] The diagram shows a square with two lines from a corner to the
middle of an opposite side. The rectangle fits exactly inside these two lines and
the square itself. What fraction of the square is occupied by the shaded
rectangle?
A B C D E

We needn’t break up to
non-shaded large
triangles as we know
they make up half the
square. ?
Of the other half, 8
tenths are shaded.
So is shaded.
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q9 [IMC 2012 Q25] The diagram shows a ceramic design by the Catalan architect
Antoni Gaudi. It is formed by drawing eight lines connecting points which divide
the edges of the outer regular octagon into three equal parts, as shown.
What fraction of the octagon is shaded?

A B C D E

Here we really do
have to focus on
just part of the
shape to keep
things simple.
?
of the triangles
are shaded. Note
that we ignored
some of the lines.
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

Q10 [IMC 2015 Q25] A point is marked one quarter

of the way along each side of a triangle, as
shown. What fraction of the area of the
triangle is shaded?
A B C D E

Using a ‘subtractive’ method:

?
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

The diagram shows a square ABCD of side 10

Q11
units. Line segments AP, AQ, AR and AS divide
the square into five regions of equal area, as
shown.
What is the length of ?

We’re told the regions have the

same area.
If we add the line , this splits the
region in two triangles, which
have half the area of the other
regions.
?
However, has the same height as
and , thus it must have half the
base width.
Thus and .
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

QN1 [JMO 2008 B5] In the diagram, the rectangle

ABCD is divided into three congruent
rectangles. The line segment JK divides CDFG
into two parts of equal area. What is the area
of triangle AEI as a fraction of the area of
ABCD?

𝟏
?
𝟑𝟎
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

QN2 [SMC 2011 Q16] is a rectangle. The area of triangle is of the area of ,
and the area of triangle is of the area of . What fraction of the area is
the area of triangle ?
A B C D E

For simplicity we could make and be 1

since the size of the rectangle doesn’t
2 affect the fraction occupied by .
5
so that .
3 Thus .
5 Since , then
Therefore ?
7 5 The area of
Thus area
12 12
Exercise 6 (Questions on provided sheet)

This shape spirals inwards infinitely.

QN3 What fraction of the shape is shaded?
Using the same technique in Q7 we
find the largest triangle (indicated as
orange) occupies of the shape.
The central square is also of the
shape. A of this is the largest triangle
within it, i.e. of . Continuing in this
way, we obtain the infinite sum:

With enough terms you might guess

this is approaching?. Indeed it is, but
it’s not until A Level you’ll formally
learn the method to show this! is an
example of a ‘geometric’ sequence, meaning
we’re multiplying each term by a value to get the
next (in this case ).
QQQ Time!

QQQ