Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
Arrange your fences to make the largest rectangular space you can. Try with four fences, then five, then six etc.
What is the largest number of circles we can fit into the frame without them overlapping? How do you know? What will happen if you try the other shapes?
What happens to the area of a square if you double the length of the sides? Try the same thing with rectangles, diamonds and other shapes. How do the four smaller ones fit into the larger one?
What do these two triangles have in common? How are they related?
Choose a box and work out the smallest rectangle of paper needed to wrap it so that it is completely covered.
What shape has Harry drawn on this clock face? Can you find its area? What is the largest number of square tiles that could cover this area?
What is the total area of the four outside triangles which are outlined in red in this arrangement of squares inside each other?
Explore this interactivity and see if you can work out what it does. Could you use it to estimate the area of a shape?
Grandpa was measuring a rug using yards, feet and inches. Can you help William to work out its area?
These rectangles have been torn. How many squares did each one have inside it before it was ripped?
Have a good look at these images. Can you describe what is happening? There are plenty more images like this on NRICH's Exploring Squares CD.
This article for teachers gives some food for thought when teaching ideas about area.
Use the interactivity to find all the different right-angled triangles you can make by just moving one corner of the starting triangle.
Look at the mathematics that is all around us - this circular window is a wonderful example.
How many ways can you find of tiling the square patio, using square tiles of different sizes?
Cut differently-sized square corners from a square piece of paper to make boxes without lids. Do they all have the same volume?
What is the smallest number of tiles needed to tile this patio? Can you investigate patios of different sizes?
Investigate the area of 'slices' cut off this cube of cheese. What would happen if you had different-sized block of cheese to start with?
A thoughtful shepherd used bales of straw to protect the area around his lambs. Explore how you can arrange the bales.
Investigate all the different squares you can make on this 5 by 5 grid by making your starting side go from the bottom left hand point. Can you find out the areas of all these squares?
Read about David Hilbert who proved that any polygon could be cut up into a certain number of pieces that could be put back together to form any other polygon of equal area.
How would you move the bands on the pegboard to alter these shapes?
Can you help the children find the two triangles which have the lengths of two sides numerically equal to their areas?
Seven small rectangular pictures have one inch wide frames. The frames are removed and the pictures are fitted together like a jigsaw to make a rectangle of length 12 inches. Find the dimensions of. . . .
You have pitched your tent (the red triangle) on an island. Can you move it to the position shown by the purple triangle making sure you obey the rules?
Can you draw a square in which the perimeter is numerically equal to the area?
This practical challenge invites you to investigate the different squares you can make on a square geoboard or pegboard.
If you have only 40 metres of fencing available, what is the maximum area of land you can fence off?
Nine squares with side lengths 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 18 cm can be fitted together to form a rectangle. What are the dimensions of the rectangle?
An investigation that gives you the opportunity to make and justify predictions.
These pictures were made by starting with a square, finding the half-way point on each side and joining those points up. You could investigate your own starting shape.
I cut this square into two different shapes. What can you say about the relationship between them?
What can you say about these shapes? This problem challenges you to create shapes with different areas and perimeters.
Explore one of these five pictures.
A simple visual exploration into halving and doubling.
How many tiles do we need to tile these patios?
Can you maximise the area available to a grazing goat?
Draw some isosceles triangles with an area of $9$cm$^2$ and a vertex at (20,20). If all the vertices must have whole number coordinates, how many is it possible to draw?
Points P, Q, R and S each divide the sides AB, BC, CD and DA respectively in the ratio of 2 : 1. Join the points. What is the area of the parallelogram PQRS in relation to the original rectangle?
A follow-up activity to Tiles in the Garden.
If I use 12 green tiles to represent my lawn, how many different ways could I arrange them? How many border tiles would I need each time?
It is possible to dissect any square into smaller squares. What is the minimum number of squares a 13 by 13 square can be dissected into?
Here are many ideas for you to investigate - all linked with the number 2000.
This rectangle is cut into five pieces which fit exactly into a triangular outline and also into a square outline where the triangle, the rectangle and the square have equal areas.
Do you know how to find the area of a triangle? You can count the squares. What happens if we turn the triangle on end? Press the button and see. Try counting the number of units in the triangle now. . . .
Can you find rectangles where the value of the area is the same as the value of the perimeter?
What are the areas of these triangles? What do you notice? Can you generalise to other "families" of triangles?
At the corner of the cube circular arcs are drawn and the area enclosed shaded. What fraction of the surface area of the cube is shaded? Try working out the answer without recourse to pencil and. . . .
Is it possible to remove ten unit cubes from a 3 by 3 by 3 cube made from 27 unit cubes so that the surface area of the remaining solid is the same as the surface area of the original 3 by 3 by 3. . . .
Investigate the different ways of cutting a perfectly circular pie into equal pieces using exactly 3 cuts. The cuts have to be along chords of the circle (which might be diameters).