How_To_Be_Good_At_Math

Areas of complex shapes

Areas of complex

shapes

Sometimes you will be asked to find areas of shapes that look very

complicated. Breaking these shapes into more familiar ones, like

rectangles, makes finding the area much easier.

If we split the shape into

rectangles, like this, we can

work out the area of each

rectangle, then add them up.

Let’s work out the area

of the first rectangle by

multiplying the lengths of

the sides: 18 × 4 = 72 m²

Look at this swimming pool.

Finding the area looks tricky at

first, but all we have to do is break

it down into simple steps.

18 m

18 m

22 m

4 m

3 m

3 m

7 m 7 m

6 m

4 m

4 m

10 m

Divide the pool into

three rectangles

The sides are straight

and all the angles are

right angles – this will

make it easy to find

Area

To find the area of a

complex shape, divide it

into sections, find the area

of each section, then add

the areas together.

174_175_Areas_of_complex_shapes.indd 174 29/02/2016 18:03