2D shapes and their properties

  • Dividing the Field
    problem

    Dividing the Field

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star empty star empty star

    A farmer has a field which is the shape of a trapezium as illustrated below. To increase his profits he wishes to grow two different crops. To do this he would like to divide the field into two trapeziums each of equal area. How could he do this?

  • Efficient packing
    problem

    Efficient Packing

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star empty star empty star
    How efficiently can you pack together disks?
  • Circle Packing
    problem

    Circle Packing

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star empty star

    Equal circles can be arranged so that each circle touches four or six others. What percentage of the plane is covered by circles in each packing pattern? ...

  • Rhombus in Rectangle
    problem

    Rhombus in Rectangle

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star empty star

    Take any rectangle ABCD such that AB > BC. The point P is on AB and Q is on CD. Show that there is exactly one position of P and Q such that APCQ is a rhombus.

  • Towering Trapeziums
    problem

    Towering Trapeziums

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star empty star
    Can you find the areas of the trapezia in this sequence?
  • Geometry and Measure - Short Problems
    problem

    Tied Up

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star empty star

    How much of the field can the animals graze?

  • Polycircles
    problem

    Polycircles

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star filled star

    Show that for any triangle it is always possible to construct 3 touching circles with centres at the vertices. Is it possible to construct touching circles centred at the vertices of any polygon?

  • Crescents and triangles
    problem

    Crescents and Triangles

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star filled star

    Can you find a relationship between the area of the crescents and the area of the triangle?

  • Bicentric Quadrilaterals
    problem

    Bicentric Quadrilaterals

    Age
    14 to 16
    Challenge level
    filled star filled star filled star
    Investigate the properties of quadrilaterals which can be drawn with a circle just touching each side and another circle just touching each vertex.
  • 2D-3D
    problem

    2D-3D

    Age
    16 to 18
    Challenge level
    filled star empty star empty star

    Two circles of equal size intersect and the centre of each circle is on the circumference of the other. What is the area of the intersection? Now imagine that the diagram represents two spheres of equal volume with the centre of each sphere on the surface of the other. What is the volume of intersection?