Progression on Area -- a visual overview, page 1 Grade 3 What is area?

How many unit squaresdo we need to cover the rectangle without gaps or overlaps? 1 1 1 a unit square 1 square unit of area 1

Area tells us how much at space the shape takes up.

Area =18 square units because it takes 18 unit squares to cover. That is why we can multiply side lengths to nd areas of rectangles. 5 units 4 units 4 5 = 20 square units

Whats a quicker way than counting squares one by one?

3 groups of 6 unit squares 3 6 = 18 square units

6 groups of 3 unit squares 6 3 = 18 square units

Decomposing into rectangles to nd area 6

33=9

? units 2 units

142 = 7

6 3
3 6 = 18

14 square units

5 3 = 15

5
23=6

3 3 Area is di erent from perimeter Same area, di erent perimeter:

3 2

3
15 + 9 = 24 Area = 24 square units

3
18 + 6 = 24 Area = 24 square units

5 6 = 30

5 3 2 3
23=6

Same perimeter, di erent area:

30 - 6 = 24 Area = 24 square units

Progression on Area -- a visual overview, page 2 Grade 4: apply area and perimeter formulas Grade 5: Extend the area formula for rectangles to cases of fractional side lengths.

A=LW
1 3

1 2

2 5 1 6 3 4

W P = L + W + L + W or P = (2L) + (2W) or P = 2(L + W)

A=

same answer!

3 2 = 6 parts, so each is 1/6 of a square unit. LW=

1 3

4 5 = 20 parts, so each is 1/20 of a square unit. 3 2 = 6 parts shaded. So shaded area is 6/20 square units. LW=
3 4

1 2

1 6

2 5

6 20

Grade 6: Finding areas What is the area of the shaded triangle? Most primitive method:

same answer!

Move and combine small pieces; count the number of squares. More advanced methods that will generalize to develop area formulas:

Move a chunk to create a rectangle of the same area.

Combine two copies to make a rectangle of twice the area.

Progression on Area -- a visual overview, page 3 Grade 6: Developing area formulas. 1) Right triangles two copies make a rectangle of the same base and height h b h A= 2) Parallelograms
1 2

h b

1 2

h A=b
1 2

A= bh or A = bh2

1 2

b bh Strategies: Relate to a rectangle (or parallelogram) by doubling then halving, moving, or adding then taking away area.

h b 3) Very oblique parallelograms take away the extra area b

A = bh

h a b big rectangles area = (b + a)h = bh + ah

h a two extra triangles area = ah

parallelograms area = (big rectangles area) - (two extra triangles area) = (bh + ah) - ah = bh 4) Other triangles: two copies make a parallelogram or rectangle of the same base and height, so the area of the triangle is half the area of the parallelogram or rectangle. h b b A = 1 bh
2

or A = bh2 h b h b

Progression on Area -- a visual overview, page 4 Decomposing and composing to relate areas. Grade 7: Figure for an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of the circle. 2r r r r

r approximately a parallelogram base: r height: r area: rr = r

Grade 8: Figure for a proof of the Pythagorean theorem. a b c

c b