SOLID STATE PRESS
← Back to catalog
Area and Perimeter of Polygons cover
Coming soon
Coming soon to Amazon
This title is in our publishing queue.
Browse available titles
Mathematics

Area and Perimeter of Polygons

A High School Geometry Primer

Geometry moves fast, and polygon area and perimeter is one of those topics that looks simple until the test asks for a trapezoid's area, a regular hexagon's apothem, or the area of an L-shaped floor plan — and suddenly the formulas blur together.

**TLDR: Area and Perimeter of Polygons** is a focused, 10–20 page primer that cuts straight to what you need. It covers every major polygon type — triangles (including Heron's formula and the SAS area formula), rectangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, rhombi, kites, and regular n-gons — and shows exactly where each formula comes from so you can reconstruct it instead of just memorizing it. A dedicated section on geometry test prep for polygons walks through decomposition strategies and the coordinate shoelace method for irregular shapes. The final section connects these ideas to surface area, circles, and real-world applications like fencing and flooring.

This guide is written for high school geometry students in grades 9–12 and early college students who need a clean, fast review. It's equally useful for parents helping with homework and tutors prepping a session. Every formula is paired with a worked example and plain-language explanation. Common mistakes — like confusing units of length with units of area, or misidentifying the height of a triangle — are named and corrected directly.

If you need a quick geometry review for students that actually sticks, this is it.

Grab your copy and walk into your next exam with every polygon formula clear and ready.

What you'll learn
  • Define perimeter and area, and use correct units for each
  • Compute perimeter for any polygon and area for triangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, rhombi, and kites
  • Apply the apothem formula and trigonometry to find the area of any regular polygon
  • Decompose irregular polygons into known shapes to find area
  • Use the Pythagorean theorem and basic trig to recover missing lengths needed for area formulas
What's inside
  1. 1. Perimeter, Area, and Units
    Sets up what perimeter and area mean, why their units differ, and the habits that prevent the most common student errors.
  2. 2. Triangles: The Building Block
    Covers perimeter and the base-times-height area formula for triangles, plus Heron's formula and the SAS area formula when the height isn't given.
  3. 3. Quadrilaterals: Rectangles, Parallelograms, Trapezoids, Rhombi, Kites
    Derives and applies area and perimeter formulas for the main quadrilaterals, showing how each formula comes from cutting and rearranging into a rectangle.
  4. 4. Regular Polygons and the Apothem
    Introduces the apothem, derives the area formula A = (1/2) a P for any regular polygon, and uses trig to find the apothem from the side length.
  5. 5. Irregular Polygons: Decomposition and Coordinates
    Shows how to find the area of irregular polygons by splitting them into triangles and rectangles, with a brief look at the coordinate (shoelace) approach.
  6. 6. Where This Shows Up Next
    Connects polygon area and perimeter to circles, surface area, calculus, and real-world problems like flooring, fencing, and land surveying.
Published by Solid State Press
Area and Perimeter of Polygons cover
TLDR STUDY GUIDES

Area and Perimeter of Polygons

A High School Geometry Primer
Solid State Press

Who This Book Is For

If you're a high school student who needs a quick geometry review for struggling students or just needs to lock down the formulas before Friday's test, this book is for you. Same goes for a freshman in a college survey course, a parent helping a kid with homework, or a tutor prepping a session on polygons.

This is a focused geometry study guide covering triangles, quadrilaterals, and regular polygons — every shape a standard course tests you on. You'll find all the area and perimeter formulas high school geometry demands, including Heron's Formula and SAS area for triangles, rectangle and trapezoid rules, and the regular polygon apothem formula explained step by step. The final section covers how to find the area of irregular polygons by decomposition and coordinate methods. About 15 pages, no filler.

Read straight through once, then work every example alongside the text. When you reach the problem set, close your notes and attempt each problem cold — that's the geometry test prep that actually sticks.

Contents

  1. 1 Perimeter, Area, and Units
  2. 2 Triangles: The Building Block
  3. 3 Quadrilaterals: Rectangles, Parallelograms, Trapezoids, Rhombi, Kites
  4. 4 Regular Polygons and the Apothem
  5. 5 Irregular Polygons: Decomposition and Coordinates
  6. 6 Where This Shows Up Next
Chapter 1

Perimeter, Area, and Units

A polygon is a closed, flat figure made entirely of straight sides. Triangles, squares, stop signs, floor tiles — if it's a closed shape with straight edges, it's a polygon. Every polygon has two fundamental measurements: how far you travel around it, and how much flat space it fills.

Perimeter is the total length of a polygon's boundary — the sum of all its side lengths. Picture walking along every edge of a soccer field and returning to your starting point. The distance you walked is the field's perimeter. Because perimeter measures length, it carries linear units: inches, feet, centimeters, meters, and so on.

Area is the amount of two-dimensional space enclosed inside the polygon. Picture covering that same soccer field with square patches of sod, each one foot on a side. The number of patches you need is the field's area. Because area counts how many unit squares fit inside a shape, it always carries square units: square inches (in²), square feet (ft²), square centimeters (cm²), and so on.

This unit difference is one of the most reliable places students lose points. A perimeter answer in cm² is wrong; an area answer in cm is wrong. The exponent on the unit tells you what kind of measurement you have.

Example. A rectangle is 8 cm wide and 5 cm tall. What are its perimeter and area?

Solution. Perimeter: add all four sides. Two sides are 8 cm, two are 5 cm. $P = 8 + 5 + 8 + 5 = 26 \text{ cm}$ Area: count the unit squares. 8 columns × 5 rows = 40 squares. $A = 8 \times 5 = 40 \text{ cm}^2$ Notice the units: 26 cm for perimeter, 40 cm² for area.

Convex and Concave Polygons

Keep reading

You've read the first half of Chapter 1. The complete book covers 6 chapters in roughly fifteen pages — readable in one sitting.

Coming soon to Amazon