Perimeter and Area
What is perimeter?
- The perimeter is the distance all the way around the outside of a 2D shape.
- To work out the perimeter, add up the lengths of all the sides.
The perimeter of this shape is 5 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 30 cm:
- The area of a 2D shape is the amount of surface it covers.
- The units for area are cm2 (square centimetres), m2 (square metres) or km2 (square kilometres).
- To work out the area of a rectangle, multiply its length (the longer side) by its width (the shorter side):
area = length × width - The area of this rectangle is 6 x 4 = 24 cm2: