How To Find Area And Perimeter: 11 Steps (with Pictures) - WikiHow

Finding the area and perimeter of a shape can be extremely useful not only in math, but for household projects, construction, and DIY projects. The perimeter is the length of the entire outside boundary of a polygon, and the area is the measure of the space that fills the boundaries of a polygon. To measure the perimeter of a rectangle, you will want to measure each side of the rectangle. We can use a rectangle on a piece of paper as an example. Find the length of one side of your rectangle. You can do this with a ruler, measuring tape, or by making up your own example. Write down this number by the side it represents so you don't forget its length. In this example, we found the length of the rectangle to be 3 feet or 92 centimeters. Then, find the width of one side of your rectangle. Write down the value for your width next to the horizontal side of your rectangle it represents. In this example, we found the length of the rectangle to be 5 feet or 152 centimeters. Write down the correct measurements on the opposing sides of your rectangle. Rectangles have four sides, but the length of opposite sides will be the same. Add all your sides together. One a piece of scratch paper, or on the paper you have written the guided example, write: length + length + width + width. So, for the guided example, you would add 3 + 3 + 5 + 5 to get a perimeter of 16 feet (4.9 m). Here are the formulas for other common shapes: Square: length of any side x 4 Triangle: side 1 + side 2 + side 3 Irregular polygon: add all sides Circle: 2 x π x radius OR π x diameter To find the area of a rectangle, you will start by finding the dimensions of your shape. We will use the rectangle from the previous example. This rectangle is 3 feet (92 cm) by 5 feet (152 cm). Multiply the length of your rectangle by the width to get the area. The final answer will be written in square units. You will want to change your formula according to shape. Unfortunately, different geometric shapes will require you to take a different approach to solve for area. You can use the following formulas for finding the area of some common shapes: Parallelogram: base x height Square: side 1 x side 2 Triangle: ½ x base x height. Circle: π x radius² That is how you can find the area and perimeter of common shapes. Keep reading to learn the formulas for finding the area of different shapes! Did this summary help you?YesNo