How_To_Be_Good_At_Math

MEASUREMENT • AREAS OF COMPLEX SHAPES 175

TRY IT OUT

How big is

this room?

Now you know how

to work out the area

of a complex shape,

can you find the total

area of the floor of

this room?

So, the area of the

swimming pool is 358 m².

To find the area of the

second rectangle, we first

need to work out its length by

adding 4 and 18 to get 22.

Then we can multiply the

lengths of the sides:

22 × 6 = 132 m²

For the final section, we

simply need to multiply

the lengths of the sides to find

its area: 22 × 7 = 154 m²

All we need to do now is

add together the three areas

to get the pool’s total area:

72 + 132 + 154 = 358

6 m

5 m

2 m

5 m

3 m

1 m

2 m 2 m

1 m

1 m

9 m

1 m

18 m

6 m

22 m

4 m

7 m

Add two

measurements

together to find

this length

Now we know the

area of all three

parts of the pool

Begin by

breaking

up the floor into

rectangles.

There’s more

than one way

to do this.

Once

you’ve

broken the

shape up, you’ll

need to do

some addition

or subtraction to

find some of the

measurements

you’ll need.

Answer on page 319

174_175_Areas_of_complex_shapes.indd 175 29/02/2016 18:03