2D shapes and their properties

Which is a better fit, a square peg in a round hole or a round peg in a square hole?

Straight lines are drawn from each corner of a square to the mid points of the opposite sides. Express the area of the octagon that is formed at the centre as a fraction of the area of the square.

With one cut a piece of card 16 cm by 9 cm can be made into two pieces which can be rearranged to form a square 12 cm by 12 cm. Explain how this can be done.

By inscribing a circle in a square and then a square in a circle find an approximation to pi. By using a hexagon, can you improve on the approximation?

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

What is the ratio of the area of a square inscribed in a semicircle to the area of the square inscribed in the entire circle?

If you continue the pattern, can you predict what each of the following areas will be? Try to explain your prediction.

The sides of a triangle are 25, 39 and 40 units of length. Find the diameter of the circumscribed circle.

Weekly Problem 5 - 2006
How many times does the inside disc have to roll around the inside of the ring to return to its initial position?

Nick Lord says "This problem encapsulates for me the best features of the NRICH collection."