CHAPTER14 Quadrilaterals and Other Polygons .......................................
In This Chapter
- The properties of
Parallelograms
- Identifying special types
of parallelograms - The properties of
trapezoids - How to find the area and
perimeter of quadrilaterals - Polygons with more than
four sides
As you work your way deeper into geometry, you’ll begin to
encounter more complex figures. We started with just lines,
then angles, and in the last chapter, we worked with triangles.
In this chapter we’ll begin looking at polygons–shapes with
more sides and angles.
The primary focus in this chapter is on four-sided figures,
and we’ll look at several different subgroups of the family of
four-sided polygons. For each of the families, we’ll consider
the special properties of sides, angles, and diagonals that
belong to that family. After you’ve gotten to know all the
members of the family, we’ll look at finding their perimeters
and areas. Before moving on, we’ll explore polygons with even
more sides and learn some interesting facts about them.Parallelograms
The term quadrilateral is used for any four-sided polygon, but
most of the attention falls on the members of the family called
parallelograms. The name parallelogram comes from the fact
that these quadrilaterals are formed by parallel line segments.