Maths Essentials, Unit 31, Lesson 4 of 5

Geometry problems

Maths Essentials, Putting it together, 30 minutes

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Areas and volumes with a cost or a time at the end, Pythagoras and trigonometry in two steps, polygons, similar solids, sectors and the sine and cosine rules.

What you will learn

  • Break a shape into parts you can find
  • Use one result to find the next (a side, then an angle)
  • Use length, area and volume scale factors
  • Give an answer in the units and accuracy asked

One result feeds the next

Many geometry problems are two smaller questions joined together.

Label what each step finds.

  1. right angle at B, AB = 6 cm, BC = 8 cm: AC² = 6² + 8² = 100, so AC = 10 cm
  2. in triangle ACD, angle CAD = 35° and the right angle is at C
  3. CD is opposite 35° and AC is adjacent: CD = 10 × tan 35° = 7.00 cm

Keep the unrounded AC on your calculator for the second step.

The rest of this lesson and its 11 practice questions are locked.

In this lesson

  1. One result feeds the next
  2. Volume, then a rate
  3. Scale factors

11 practice questions, marked as you go; about 30 minutes in all.

In this unit: Putting it together

Multi-step problems in real contexts, where one result feeds the next: number, algebra, ratio, geometry and statistics, Foundation and Higher, with and without a calculator, checked step by step.

All of Putting it together