Sekolah Lentera Kasih (Bali)

Handout 1 / Unit # 12 / TERM # 4

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Subject : Mathematics
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What does Perimeter Mean?

 Perimeter is the distance around the outside of a shape.
 It is measured as a length and can be in a range of units such as cm, inches, feet, miles,
etc.

In the triangle below, the word 'perimeter' has been written around the outside going all the way
round the triangle to show what the perimeter represents visually.

One way I like to imagine perimeter is if you dropped a tiny stick-person on the outside of a
shape.
The stick-person walks all the way around the outside of the shape until they got back to where
they started.
The distance the person walked would be the perimeter of the shape.
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Perimeter of a Rectangle

How to find the perimeter of a rectangle.

 To find the perimeter of any shape we just need to add up the length of
each side.
 In any rectangle, however, opposite sides are always equal in length.
 The perimeter of a rectangle can be found by adding the length of the 2
adjacent sides together and doubling the answer.
 Or Perimeter of a rectangle = (length + width) x 2
 Another way to find the perimeter quickly is to double the length of
each of the adjacent sides and add them together.
 Perimeter = (length x 2) + (width x 2).

Examples
Example 1

The perimeter of the rectangle above is 7 + 2 + 7 + 2 = 18cm.

However, we could also just work out (7 + 2) x 2, as we are simply adding 7
plus 2 twice
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Perimeter of a Rectilinear Shape

A rectilinear shape is a closed shape made up of just vertical and horizontal

lines.

 To find the perimeter, we simply need to add up the lengths of the

sides.
 If the length of the sides are not given, we will need to measure them
first.
 If the shape is not drawn to scale and several lengths are missing, we
will need to use our logical thinking and calculation skills to find the
missing lengths.

Examples
Example 1

To find the perimeter of the shape, we just need to add up the length of
each of the sides.
Since all the sides have been given to us, we just need to add them up.
So the perimeter is 8 + 3 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 2 = 22cm.
Example 2

In this particular example, there are two sides missing.

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However, if we look at the missing side on the left hand side, we can see
that it is a long vertical line which is the same length as the two vertical
lines on the right hand side put together.
So this missing side must be equal to 5cm + 3cm = 8cm.

If we now look at the other missing side, it is a short horizontal line.

You can see that the length of this line added to the 5cm horizontal line is
the same length as the 7cm long horizontal line.
So the length of the other missing side must be 7cm - 5cm = 2cm.

Now that we have worked out both missing sides, we can finally find the
perimeter of the whole shape.
Adding up the sides gives us: 5cm + 3cm + 2cm + 5cm + 7cm + 8cm =
30cm
So the perimeter of the shape is 30cm.
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Perimeter of a Regular Shapes

How do we find the perimeter of regular shapes?

Well, a regular shape is a polygon that has all sides and angles equal.
When we are looking at perimeter, it is the 'all sides equal' part that we are
interested in.

 To find the perimeter of a regular shape, we simply need to multiply

the length of one side by the number of sides.

Examples
Example 1
Find the perimeter of this equilateral triangle.

This shape is an equilateral (regular) triangle with 3 equal sides.

So the perimeter is the length of one side multiplied by 3.
5cm x 3 = 15cm
So the perimeter is 15cm.
Example 2
Find the perimeter of this regular pentagon.

This shape is a regular pentagon with sides length 8cm.

So the perimeter of this shape is 8cm x 5 = 40cm
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Example 3:
Find the length of each side of this regular octagon.

This shape is a regular octagon and we are told that the perimeter is
24cm.
We have to find the length of one side.
We know that length of a side x 8 = 24cm
So the length of a side must be 24 ÷ 8 = 3cm
So the length of each side is 3cm.