Filter by: Content type: ALL Problems Articles Games Stage: All Stage 1&2 Stage 2&3 Stage 3&4 Stage 4&5 Challenge level:
How many centimetres of rope will I need to make another mat just like the one I have here?
What are the areas of these triangles? What do you notice? Can you generalise to other "families" of triangles?
The area of a square inscribed in a circle with a unit radius is, satisfyingly, 2. What is the area of a regular hexagon inscribed in a circle with a unit radius?
How have "Warmsnug" arrived at the prices shown on their windows? Which window has been given an incorrect price?
It's easy to work out the areas of most squares that we meet, but what if they were tilted?
An investigation that gives you the opportunity to make and justify predictions.
How many ways can you find of tiling the square patio, using square tiles of different sizes?
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.
Can you find rectangles where the value of the area is the same as the value of the perimeter?
How can you change the area of a shape but keep its perimeter the same? How can you change the perimeter but keep the area the same?
A red square and a blue square overlap so that the corner of the red square rests on the centre of the blue square. Show that, whatever the orientation of the red square, it covers a quarter of the. . . .
Can you help the children find the two triangles which have the lengths of two sides numerically equal to their areas?
Use the interactivity to find all the different right-angled triangles you can make by just moving one corner of the starting triangle.
If you have only 40 metres of fencing available, what is the maximum area of land you can fence off?
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?
Can you find the area of a parallelogram defined by two vectors?
Polygons drawn on square dotty paper have dots on their perimeter (p) and often internal (i) ones as well. Find a relationship between p, i and the area of the polygons.
What can you say about these shapes? This problem challenges you to create shapes with different areas and perimeters.
I'm thinking of a rectangle with an area of 24. What could its perimeter be?
What is the smallest number of tiles needed to tile this patio? Can you investigate patios of different sizes?
Can you work out the area of the inner square and give an explanation of how you did it?
Semicircles are drawn on the sides of a rectangle ABCD. A circle passing through points ABCD carves out four crescent-shaped regions. Prove that the sum of the areas of the four crescents is equal to. . . .
These rectangles have been torn. How many squares did each one have inside it before it was ripped?
Derive a formula for finding the area of any kite.
Choose a box and work out the smallest rectangle of paper needed to wrap it so that it is completely covered.
This article, written for teachers, discusses the merits of different kinds of resources: those which involve exploration and those which centre on calculation.
A follow-up activity to Tiles in the Garden.
Can you draw a square in which the perimeter is numerically equal to the area?
An activity for high-attaining learners which involves making a new cylinder from a cardboard tube.
A hallway floor is tiled and each tile is one foot square. Given that the number of tiles around the perimeter is EXACTLY half the total number of tiles, find the possible dimensions of the hallway.
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?
A thoughtful shepherd used bales of straw to protect the area around his lambs. Explore how you can arrange the bales.
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?
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?
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).
Determine the total shaded area of the 'kissing triangles'.
Cut differently-sized square corners from a square piece of paper to make boxes without lids. Do they all have the same volume?
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?
In the four examples below identical squares of side one unit contain some circles shaded blue. In which of the four examples is the shaded area greatest?
You have a 12 by 9 foot carpet with an 8 by 1 foot hole exactly in the middle. Cut the carpet into two pieces to make a 10 by 10 foot square carpet.
A task which depends on members of the group noticing the needs of others and responding.
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 can move the 4 pieces of the jigsaw and fit them into both outlines. Explain what has happened to the missing one unit of area.
Explore one of these five pictures.
This practical challenge invites you to investigate the different squares you can make on a square geoboard or pegboard.
What fractions of the largest circle are the two shaded regions?
Make an eight by eight square, the layout is the same as a chessboard. You can print out and use the square below. What is the area of the square? Divide the square in the way shown by the red dashed. . . .
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. . . .
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?