Area of composite rectilinear shapes

You can find the area of composite rectilinear shapes in different ways.

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Year 7

Area of composite rectilinear shapes

You can find the area of composite rectilinear shapes in different ways.

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Share activities with pupils

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Lesson details

Key learning points

There are multiple ways to find the area of rectilinear composite shapes.
The most efficient method may depend on the features of the shape.
A method is to break the shape into rectangles.
A method is to complete the shape.
A method is to rearrange the shape.

Keywords

Composite rectilinear shape - A composite rectilinear shape is a composite shape made from rectangles.

Common misconception

Breaking the shape into rectangles is always the best approach.

There is not always enough information to use that method so flexible thinking is required.

If pupils are reticient to learn other ways of calculating the area of composite rectilinear shapes, future lessons in this unit present examples where other methods must be used. This provides evidence that one method is not always best.

Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).