© Nuffield Foundation 2011
Nuffield Free-Standing Mathematics Activity
Geometrical design
Geometrical design
Can you name any of the geometrical shapes in these pictures?
This activity is about recognising shapes and their properties
Left-hand photo Decoramic Tile Centre http://www.decoramic.co.uk/
perpendicular lines
are always the same distance apart
Think aboutWhat is special about….
parallel lines
meet at 90
has one angle of 90
a right-angled triangle
an obtuse-angled triangle
has one angle greater than 90
an acute-angled triangle
has three angles all less than 90
Think aboutWhat is special about ….
Triangles
Think aboutWhy is it not possible for a triangle to have more than one right angle?
have 3 sides and 3 anglessum of the angles = 180
has3 equal sides and 3 equal angles. has
2 equal sides and 2 equal angles.
an equilateral triangle
an isosceles triangle
a scalene triangle
has3 different sides and 3 different angles.
Think aboutWhat is special about….
Triangles
Think aboutWhat is each angle in an equilateral triangle?
A quadrilateral has 4 sides.
A pentagon has 5 sides.
A hexagon has 6 sides.
An octagon has 8 sides
Think aboutthe names of these polygons….Polygons
Sum of the angles = 360
Rectangle Square
Opposite sides equal All sides equal
Think about …What is special about these quadrilaterals?
Opposite sides parallel Opposite sides parallel
Quadrilaterals
All angles are 90⁰ All angles are 90⁰
Opposite angles equal Opposite angles equal
Parallelogram
Opposite sides parallel Opposite sides parallel
RhombusAll sides equalOpposite sides equal
Think about …What is special about these quadrilaterals?
Quadrilaterals
Kite
Two pairs of equal sides
Trapezium
One pair of sides parallel
Think aboutWhat is special about these quadrilaterals?
Quadrilaterals
One pair of equal angles
Think about …What does ‘regular’ mean?
Regular polygons
Think aboutWhat is another name for a regular triangle?What is another name for a regular quadrilateral?
Key wordsregular parallel perpendicularcircle
trianglesscalene isosceles equilateralacute-angled right-angled obtuse-angledquadrilateralsparallelogram trapezium rhombusrectangle square kiteother polygonspentagon hexagon octagon
Geometrical designAt the end of the activity
Name the different types of triangles.
Name each special type of quadrilateral. List their properties.
What does the term 'regular' mean? What is another name for a regular quadrilateral?
What types of jobs involve using geometrical shapes? List as many as you can.