TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section A: About this Study Guide

Section B: Study Modules

MODULE 1: Use mathematics to plan and control financial instruments 3
1. lnsurance 4
2. Life insurance also known as long term insurance 5
3. Unit trusts 5
4. The stock exchange 6
MODULE 2: Use simple and compund interest to make sense of and 8
define a variety of situations 9
1. Calculate interest
MODULE 3: Investigate various aspects of costs and revenue 12
1. Budgeting 13
MODULE 4: Use mathematics to debate aspects of the national and 14
global economy 15
1. Currency 16
2. Imports and exports 17
3. Remuneration, monetry policy and inflation
18
4. Research
MODULE 5: Measurement
1. Rulers 22
2. Measuring tape 22
23
3. Watches and clocks
23
4. Measuring jug/ cylinder 23
5. Thermometers 24
6. Veriner 24
7. Micrometer screws 24
8. Length
MODULE 6: A dead parrot 27
1. A regular polygon 29
2. Vertex 30
MODULE 7: Triangles 30
1. Equillateral triangle 30
2. Isosceles triangle 31
31
3. Scalene triangle
31
4. Acute triangle 32
5. Obtuse angled triangle 32
6. Right-angled triangle 33
7. Area of triangle 47
8. Theorem of Pythagores 50

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MODULE 8: Quadrilaterals
1. Rectangle 34
2. Square 35
3. Parallelogram
35
4. Rhombus
36
5. Trapezoid
36
6. Pentagon 37
7. Hexagon 37
8. Heptagon 38
9. Octagon 38
10. Nonagon 39
11. Decagon 39
MODULE 9: Circle
40
1. Convex
MODULE 10: Transformations
1. Reflections 54
2. Rotations 54
3. Translations 55
4. Enlargements 55

Section C: References

Section D: List of Sources and Recommendations for Further Reading

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Insurance

Scenario 1:

Mr. Motsepe buys a motor car for R50 000. He pays cash, drives out of the garage and the
next day has an accident where he is not hurt but his car is written off.

Scenario 2
The Pillays have been living in their new house for two years. One night there is a violent
thunderstorm and a tree falls across the roof causing major damage.

Scenario 3
Mrs Baloi works for an advertising company and she is very proud of her new ‘state of the
art’ laptop computer. She is driving through town with the computer on the front seat. She
stops at a traffic light and suddenly the window is smashed and the computer is grabbed and
stolen.

Group discussion

Briefly discuss in your groups what you would do in similar circumstances. How can you
protect yourself against disasters such as accidents and theft?

You will have brought up the topic of insurance. In life there are many risks, four of which
we’ve described above. An insurance company will take on that risk for you and pay for
the damage or loss. Of course you have to pay, but you pay a small premium, usually
monthly to insure yourself against the risk.

If Mr. Motsepe has insured his car when he bought it he would have been paid a certain
sum by the insurance company.

Research

If you have insurance yourself, you will know the answers to some of these questions. But
what you must do is research “short-term’ insurance, Find out about premiums, excess,
exclusions and when the insurance will not pay – for example was Mr. Motsepe under the
influence of alcohol when he had his crash.”
Then write a short summary of short term insurance

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(Note: Insurance is sometimes referred to as “assurance” and some companies call
themselves “……ABC Assurance Company.” If you are insured, you can be assured that
you have spread the risk to someone else, i.e. the company.

Life Insurance also known as ‘long-term insurance’

Can you insure your life? In other words can you insure that if you die the insurance
company will pay out? The answer of course is “yes”. Life Insurance is very complex –
there are many forms including ‘straight life” “endowment insurance’, ‘retirement
annuities’

Research

Investigate Life Insurance.

Your sources are books, Internet and insurance companies, many, if not all, will be
glad to shower you with literature and advice.

After you have done your research your facilitator will give you some case studies
and you must decide what form of life insurance would be best for those people.

UNIT TRUSTS

A Unit trust is a method of investing in Stocks and Shares. We discuss the Stock
exchange later. There are over 300 Unit trusts in South Africa. Each trust is managed
by a company such as Old Mutual or Liberty Life.

Research

Refer to the financial pages of any newspaper or respond to adverts in the press. Talk to a
Unit trust manager, they will be too willing to talk to you as a potential investor.

Obtain literature and after you have the facts write a short summary of what Unit trusts
are and whether you feel they represent a good investment choice and would you invest
in one.

THE STOCK EXCHANGE

This is an extract from the JSE’s web page. Read it carefully.

What is the JSE, and what's it got to do with me?

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 • More than a landmark, more than a forum for trading in stocks, bonds, and
shares, the JSE stands tall as the engine-room of the South African economy.
Here, companies from across the spectrum of industry and commerce gather
to raise the public capital that will allow them to expand, in the process
creating new jobs, products, services, and opportunities.

As their profits improve, so the dividends are passed on to their

shareholders, in a cycle of economic empowerment that reflects the stability
and well-being of a nation. But what do the ups and downs of market prices
have to do with the everyday, ordinary South African? Plenty.

If you own an insurance policy, a retirement annuity, a unit trust or even a

simple savings account, the JSE is where much of your money goes to make
more money for you. Directly or indirectly, the movements of the market
matter to millions of South Africans, and that's why more and more South
Africans are choosing the direct route to the market - by investing on the JSE.

But don't you have to be a " high networth individual " to invest on the JSE ?

• Not at all. While the nature of the market dictates that prices will vary from
company to company and day to day, there's nothing to prevent the smaller
investor from staking a claim to a share of a public company. Member firms
operate at their own discretion, and some choose to deal only with institutions
or larger investors. But you should have no trouble finding a member firm
which is prepared to take on a client with as little as R5000.00 to spare. The
formula: start small, invest wisely, stay the distance. Who knows? One day,
thanks to the JSE, you too could be a "high net-worth individual".

([Link]/beginners_guide)

Using this information and any other information you can research, write a short
account about “THE STOCK EXCHANGE”. Include what the purpose of a stock
exchange is, the role of stockbrokers, who can invest, the risks involved and finally
would you invest and what precautions would you take if you did?

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In your previous studying you should know what interest is and be aware of
the differences between simple and compound interest.

Revision:

1. Calculate the simple interest earned on the following:

a) R2500 invested for 2 years at 9%
b) R6000 invested for 5 years at 10%
c) R1200 invested for 18 months at 8%

1. Now calculate the compound interest which would be earned on examples a) and b)
in question 1.
Which form of interest pays you more?

2. Are the following statements true or false? If you answer a false give a reason.

a) Banks lend money at lower rates than the prime lending rate? T / F
c) A credit card is a good way to save money T / F

3. Imagine you are a student about to attend University or College. You intend to rent a
furnished apartment close to the college. You father has agreed to finance you in
setting up your apartment. Make a list of all your expenses during the first month.
Include rent, food for the month, items such as bedding, towels. Having prepared a
list, work out a monthly budget. Your parents will contribute R1000 a month, you can
share the apartment (and therefore living expenses) with a friend) and you can work
for a maximum of 3 afternoons or evenings each week.

Now some research

Should you show interest in “interest” In other words, how does interest impact on your
daily life?

• House mortgages (bonds)

• Hire purchase

Investments
• Savings accounts
• Annuities

Discuss these schemes in your group and with your facilitator if necessary. Write notes
(these can be rough notes)

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Here are some notes to help you

Banks have tables to calculate the amount repayable on a specific bond. These are extremely
complicated. If you know a friendly estate agent they will be able to give you indications of
the monthly and total amounts that would have to be repaid.

Interest Monthly instalment for a loan amount of R100 000

Repayable over 10 years Repayable over 20 years
8% R1213.00 R836.00
9% R1267.00 R900.00
10% R1322.00 R965.00
11% R1378.00 R1032
12% R1435.00 R1101.00
13% R1493.00 R1172.00

To work out the Hire Purchase on a motor car or furniture is easier.

A hire purchase on a car usually attracts Simple Interest on the full amount which is then paid
when you buy the car. Normally a deposit of 10% is required.

So if the purchase price for the car is R66000, you will be required to pay R6000 as a deposit
and then you are charged 12% interest on the balance, the total interest will amount to R7200.
This makes the total price R67200. This price is now divided by the number of months over
the loan is repaid e.g. 30. So the monthly instalment would be R2240.

Tsepho buys R5000 of furniture from ABC furnishers. He buys on hire purchase with no deposit
and agrees to pay the loan off over 24 months. He is charged 20% simple interest per annum
(each year). What will he pay in total for his furniture?

When you invest in a savings account, fixed deposit or any other account, the bank will pay
you interest. This is normally compound interest. Annuities are a way of saving for retirement.
You invest a fixed amount per month to the bank or financial institution for a fixed period of
time, often until you are 65. The institution invests the money for. At the end of that time
that money invested plus the interest it has earned is available to you as an annuity.

You can take up to 33% of the money available as cash and the rest is then invested as an
annuity and you are paid a certain sum each month as a pension. The annuity market in South
African is complicated. We have described the underlying principles but before anyone thinks
of this form of investment sound advice from a reputable financial advisor is essential.
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BUDGETING

If you earn R1000 a month and spend (or save) R999 you will be happy,
If you earn R20 000 a month and spend R21 000 you may well be very unhappy.

It is essential to budget one’s income and expenditure. This applies to:

o The individual
o The entrepreneur
o The business man

For the purpose of this programme we will concentrate on the entrepreneur and small
business man.

Every business has one purpose: to make a profit. Businesses are in the business of selling.
The business may sell fruit, groceries, books, cell phones or services like insurance or cell
phone pre-paid cards. In every case the selling price of the goods must be higher than the
cost price.

Profit = if selling price is higher than the cost price

Loss – if the cost price is higher than the selling price.

However it is not quite as simple as that. All business have expenses such as rent,
telephones, electricity and wages if staff are employed.

Optimization of Profit

There are two ways to optimize your profit:

Increase your sales
Reduce your expenses

We will concentrate on reduction of expenses. Go back to your previous assignment where

you listed all the expenses of the business. Divide them into fixed expenses, e.g. rent, and
expenses that vary from month to month depending on usage. Telephones, electricity,
vehicle expenses all come into this category.

As we all know our currency is the Rand, which is divided into 100 cents. It wasn’t always like
that – before 1970 we used the British currency of pounds, shillings and pence. There are still
areas where people refer to the ‘old money’ for example ‘two bob’ meaning twenty cents.

So other countries have their own currency.

Here are some examples

Country Currency Value of the rand to one foreign unit

(approx in March 2007)
USA American dollar R7.3
Britain Pound R14
European Euro* R9.5
Union

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 Japan Yen
Brazil
India
Zambia
Botswana

Exercise
Answer these questions:

a. What is the Euro? Which countries use the Euro and which countries’
own currency did it replace?

2. Complete the missing boxes in the table above. The information is

available in the daily press and on the internet.

Write up your answers and discuss them in your group,

The exchange rate is not stable. In April 2006 it cost R5 to buy a dollar.
It has decreased in value. We say the currency fluctuates in value.

Group discussion

How do currency fluctuations affect the national economy?

This leads us on to discuss

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

Any national economy depends on trade, particularly trade with other nations. South
Africa produces many commodities and goods which we then sell to other countries.
Some of our leading exports are
o Gold
o Coal
o Iron Ore
o Diamonds
o Wine
o Fruit

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However, there are also many products that we have to import from other countries
and those countries charge us. We import oil, machinery, cars, certain foodstuffs,
textiles, electronic equipment and many other things.
We will sell to and buy from other countries – these are our trading partners and we
can add together the total exports to that country and the imports from that country
to tell us our biggest trading partner. At the end of 2006, Germany, USA, UK and Japan
where our largest reading partners.

For an example our total trade with Germany was R63 billion, with R20 billion being
exports and R43 being imports.

Remuneration, monetary policy and inflation

A domestic servant in South Africa can expect to earn between R50 and R100 a day.
In Zimbabwe, a gardener can earn Z$75000 Zimbabwe dollars!

We all know the significance behind this. Zimbabwe has the highest rte of inflation in
the world (hyper inflation) at (early 2007) about 1750%. This means that the
gardener’s wages are worth very little, not enough to live on when a loaf a bread costs
as much as a day’s wages. Recent estimates are that an average family in Harare
requires Z$826 000 monthly just in order to survive.

The South African Government’s stated monetary policy has been to limit inflation to
between 4% and 6% a year. This policy has been largely successful and has brought
inflation down from 25% in the 1980’s.

Research

South African Monetary Policy is controlled by the Reserve Bank and the Ministry of
Finance. You assignment is to write a short (no more than a page) on how the Bank
has controlled the economy in the last five to six years. You should also look at the
budget and the ways the Minister of Finance raises finance to pay for Government
expenditure.

The Internet is the best source of information. Go to:

[Link]

Banks and other financial institutions produce printed material which will help you.
It would be a good idea to draft your account and then discuss it with you facilitator,

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Measurement

A measurement is an amount determined by measuring an object. To measure a physical

quantity means to compare in size (magnitude) with a similar standard quantity called a unit.
For example, the measurement 4.35m for the length of a room indicates that a meter was
used as a unit of length and that the length of the room was 4.35 times larger than the length
of the meter stick.

There are many different devices for taking measurements of physical quantities: rulers,
balances, stopwatches, measuring tapes, measuring cylinders or jugs, thermometers, watches
and clocks. Each one of the above instruments has a scale with numbers that are used to
determine the size of the object.

Rulers

Rulers are one of the most commonly used instruments that is used measure objects.
Measurements can be taken in centimeters, millimeters and inches. Measurements of a
length should always be expressed in decimals, not fractions, because measurements are only
approximate.

A B

OBJECT

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Measuring is done from left to right. Place the ruler of the starting point of the object(A). The
length of the object is determined by looking at the right side of the ruler where the object
ends (B). When measuring an object the eye (point of 0 cm) must be vertically in line with the
point where the reading has to be, to avoid the error of parallax.

Measuring Tape

Has similar functionality to that of a ruler but is used to measure larger objects.

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Watches and Clocks

A clock/ watch is an instrument for measuring time, driven mechanically or electrically. It

indicates hours and minutes by the hands on the dial or by displayed figures.

A Stopwatch is a watch with a mechanism for recording elapsed time and is used to time races,
etc.

Measuring Jug / Cylinder

Is a jug marked to measure its contents? Measuring jugs are used for baking, cooking, etc.

Thermometers

A thermometer is an instrument used to measure temperature. It is a graduated glass tube

with a small bar containing mercury or alcohol which expands when heated, Thermometers
are used from hospital to weather bureaus.

Vernier
An auxiliary device designed to facilitate fine adjustments or measurements on precision
instruments.
Micrometer screws
This is a gauge for accurately measuring small distances, thickness, etc and it one millionth of
a meter.

Length

Length is the long dimension of any object. The length of a thing is the distance between its
ends, its linear extent as measured from end to end. The unit for measuring length is
meters.

The table below shows the most common units which are associated with the meter.

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 10 millimeter(mm) = 1 centimeter(cm)
1000 millimeter(mm) = 1 meter (cm)
100 centimeter(cm) = 1 meter (m)
1000 meters (m) = 1 kilometers (km)

Small lengths such as cross sections of timber are measured in millimeters or centimeters.
Larger lengths such as the dimensions of a room are measured in meters, and distances are
measured in kilometers.

Example:
A length of timber is 3m long. How many shelves with lengthd 82cm can be cut from this
piece of wood?

Solution:

1m = 100cm and so 3m = 300m

We need to calculate how many lengths of 82cm there are in 300cm. So the number of
shelves is 300/82 = 3.66. 3 shelves could be cut from 3m length.

In the imperial system inches, (ins or `` ), feet (ft or `), yards (yd), and miles are used to
measure lengths and distances.

The table below shows conversions of measures:

To convert Multiply By
Inches To Centimeters 2.5400
Centimeters To Inches 0.3937
Feet To Meters 0.3048
Meters To Feet 3.2810
Yards To Meters 0.9144
Meters To Yards 1.0940
Miles To Kilometers 1.6090
Kilometers To Miles 0.6214

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Example:
The speed restriction on a road in France is given as 50km per hour. What is the equivalent
speed in miles per hour.

Solution:
We have to find how many miles are equivalent to 50km from the table, we see that:
1km = 0.6214 miles
so 50km = 50 x 0.6214 miles
= 31.07 miles
50km per hour is approximately 31 miles per hour.

Exercise:
1. A kitchen wall is 3.4m long. A house holder wants to fit the following kitchen units to the
wall:
Double cupboard unit - 1000mm wide
Single Drawer unit - 500mm wide
Single Cupboard unit - 50mm wide
Fridge - 600mm wide

How much space will those units take altogether? Is there sufficient space left to fit a
washing machine along the same wall if the washing machine is 600mm wide?
ANGLING WITHOUT A FISHING ROD

This study area is very useful for anyone who wants to be an artist, designer, architect,
builder, surveyor, computer games programmer, airline pilot...and so the list goes on.

Angles are not angels spelt badly, nor are they those bumpy things that join your legs to
your feet. Angles can be seen wherever you look.
To see what an angle is: Imagine a clock (with hands) at 3 o'clock. The minute hand is
pointing upwards and the hour hand is pointing directly to the right:

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How many minutes would the minute hand have to travel before it covers the hour hand?
When the hands overlap, the time is quarter past three i.e. the minute hand will have
traveled for 15 minutes.
On most clocks, little marks indicate where the minutes are. Imagine that we want to make
the clock a bit more accurate. To do this we mark out 90 little marks instead of 15. Each little
mark now is called a degree and the amount the minute hand moves to get to quarter past
three can also be said to be 90 degrees or this is quite often more commonly seen in its
shorthand form of 90o and is also called a right-angle.
In other words, the angle between the minute hand when it is at 12 and the hour hand when
it is at 3 is 90 degrees.
When the minute hand moves full circle (i.e. it moves round an hour), the angle will be 4 x
90 = 360 degrees. Do you see where the 4 comes from?
Angles can be applied to any two lines with a single fixed point (not just clock and watch
hands!).
What's the point of learning about angles?
Anyone who works in art or design must understand angles. People creating technical
drawings and plans for views of houses, engines, and beer cans etc tend to draw these
objects at particular angles when drawing in 3D (three dimensions)?
Other people who use angles regularly in their jobs are builders, mechanics, engineers etc. in
fact anyone who needs to interpret objects and shapes will need to use and understand
angles.

A DEAD PARROT?

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Despite what you may think a polygon is not a dead parrot (Polly gone…geddit?). A polygon
is just a fancy name for any flat shape (also known as a 2-dimensional shape) which is made
by drawing straight lines which all join together.

A polygon is a closed figure made by joining line segments, where each line segment
intersects exactly two others.

Examples:

The following are examples of polygons:

The figure below is not a polygon, since it is not a closed figure:

The figure below is not a polygon, since it is not made of line segments:

The figure below is not a polygon, since its sides do not intersect in exactly two places each:

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Each type of polygon has its own name (which unfortunately you'll need to remember).

Regular Polygon

A regular polygon is a polygon whose sides are all the same length, and whose angles are all
the same. The sum of the angles of a polygon with n sides, where n is 3 or more, is
180° × (n - 2) degrees.

Examples:

The following are examples of regular polygons:

Examples:

The following are not examples of regular polygons:

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Vertex

1) The vertex of an angle is the point where the two rays that form the angle intersect.

2) The vertices of a polygon are the points where its sides intersect.

Triangles

A three-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees.

Examples:

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Equilateral Triangle or Equiangular Triangle

A triangle having all three sides of equal length. The angles of an equilateral triangle all
measure 60 degrees.

Examples:

Isosceles Triangle

A triangle having two sides of equal length.

Examples:

Scalene Triangle

A triangle having three sides of different lengths.

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Examples:

Acute Triangle

A triangle having three acute angles.

Examples:

Obtuse Triangle

A triangle having an obtuse angle. One of the angles of the triangle measures more than 90
degrees.

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Examples:

Right Angle Triangle

A triangle having a right angle. One of the angles of the triangle measures 90 degrees. The
side opposite the right angle is called the hypotenuse. The two sides that form the right angle
are called the legs. A right triangle has the special property that the sum of the squares of the
lengths of the legs equals the square of the length of the hypotenuse. This is known as the
Pythagorean Theorem.

Examples:

Example:

For the right triangle above, the lengths of the legs are A and B, and the hypotenuse has
length C. Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we know that A2 + B2 = C2.

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Example:

In the right triangle above, the hypotenuse has length 5, and we see that 32 + 42 = 52
according to the Pythagorean Theorem.

Quadrilateral

A four-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a quadrilateral is 360 degrees.

Examples:

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Rectangle

A four-sided polygon having all right angles. The sum of the angles of a rectangle is 360
degrees.

Examples:

Square

A four-sided polygon having equal-length sides meeting at right angles. The sum of the
angles of a square is 360 degrees.

Examples:

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Parallelogram

A four-sided polygon with two pairs of parallel sides. The sum of the angles of a
parallelogram is 360 degrees.

Examples:

Rhombus

A four-sided polygon having all four sides of equal length. The sum of the angles of a
rhombus is 360 degrees.

Examples:

Trapezoid

A four-sided polygon having exactly one pair of parallel sides. The two sides that are parallel
are called the bases of the trapezoid. The sum of the angles of a trapezoid is 360 degrees.

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Examples:

Pentagon

A five-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a pentagon is 540 degrees.

Examples:

A regular pentagon: An irregular pentagon:

Hexagon

A six-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a hexagon is 720 degrees.

Examples:

A regular hexagon: An irregular hexagon:

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Heptagon

A seven-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a heptagon is 900 degrees.

Examples:

A regular heptagon: An irregular heptagon:

Octagon

An eight-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of an octagon is 1080 degrees.

Examples:

A regular octagon: An irregular octagon:

Nonagon

A nine-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a nonagon is 1260 degrees.

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Examples:

A regular nonagon: An irregular nonagon:

Decagon

A ten-sided polygon. The sum of the angles of a decagon is 1440 degrees.

Examples:

A regular decagon: An irregular decagon:

Circle

A circle is the collection of points in a plane that are all the same distance from a fixed point.
The fixed point is called the center. A line segment joining the center to any point on the circle
is called a radius.

Example:

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The line r is the radius, and the collection of points is the circle. P is the center

Convex

A figure is convex if every line segment drawn between any two points inside the figure lies
entirely inside the figure. A figure that is not convex is called a concave figure.

Example:

The following figures are convex.

The following figures are concave. Note the red line segment drawn between two points
inside the figure that also passes outside of the figure.

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Table of Commonly Uses Polygons:

Number of Name of Polygon How to remember the name

Sides

3 Triangle The name says that the shape has 3 angles (Tri is an

old word for 3) - it also has 3 sides.

4 Quadrilateral If someone gives birth to "Quads" - they have 4

babies - this shape has 4 sides

5 Pentagon The number 5 looks like the letter S, put 5 in front

of Pent and it looks like Spent - this shape has 5

sides

6 Hexagon The word Six ends with the letter x and so does Hex

(another old word which means six) - this shape has 6

sides

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 8 Octagon An octopus has 8 legs - this shape has 8 sides

10 Decagon The word Decompress has 10 letters and begins with

Dec - this shape has 10 sides

Angles for Polygons

An interior angle is simply the angle between two of the lines in a polygon. For example, you
should know that ALL INTERIOR ANGLES in a triangle add up to 180o. If all the sides in a triangle
are equal, then the three interior angles will be equal, as we know that they all add up to 180o
all we do is divide 180 by 3 which gives a single interior angle of 60o.

So, a regular triangle is called an equilateral triangle and a regular quadrilateral is called a
square.

If you find it difficult to remember equilateral - lateral thinking means "sideways thinking" and
equi is used in the start of words for some thing meaning equal (e.g. equi-distant, equi-valent
etc.) so equilateral simply means equal sided - this may help.

These two regular polygons are the only ones with fancy names. The others are simply called
regular pentagon etc.

If someone asks you to give an example of an irregular quadrilateral - use rectangle.

If someone asks you to give an example of an irregular triangle there is another special name
for a triangle which you could use - an isosceles triangle. This is a triangle with only 2 sides
which have the same length. To remember this you could think of making an SOS call in the
middle of iSOSceles. If O is one side the other two sides of the same length could be S and S.

Easy Ways to Calculate Polygon angles

Back to angles again, and you thought that you'd heard the last of them!

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Interior Angles
You know now that all the interior angles of a triangle add up to 180o. You can use this gem of
knowledge to make working out interior angles in other polygons really easy.
The quadrilateral below has been split into 2 triangles with the red line. The curved bits in case
you were wondering are supposed to represent the angles.

If we have 2 triangles making up this shape, the sum (total) of the interior angles
= 2 x 180 = 360o.
The same trick applies to other polygons, for example:

Here the sum of the interior angles = 3 x 180 = 540o.

There is a pattern emerging here…look at the number of sides on the first picture and
compare it to the number of triangles.
First Picture: No. of sides = 4, No. of triangles = 2
Second Picture: No. of sides = 5, No. of triangles = 3

A polygon with 6 sides has 4 triangles; one with 7 sides has 5 triangles.
We can create a formula from this which will quickly tell us the number of triangles which
will be found in a polygon of any number of sides. Writing down the formula in words we
say:
The Sum of a Polygon's interior angles = The number of sides minus 2 multiplied by 180.
Using the shorthand letter n to represent the number of sides we get the formula:
Sum of interior angles = (n - 2) x 180.

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The brackets are there to make sure that you subtract 2 from n before multiplying by 180.
Don't try and remember the formula, you don't need to - just remember splitting polygons
up into triangles and the formula will appear magically from your memory.
One last thing on interior angles. If you have a regular polygon (pentagon, hexagon etc.) all
the interior angles will be the same, so to find one interior angle you just divide the sum of
the interior angles (which you now know how to calculate) by the number of sides.

Exterior Angles
Not much to say about these only that the interior angle of a polygon and the exterior angle
both add up to 180o. A straight line is 180o and to see this more clearly look at the picture
below:

The interior angles are shown in red and the exterior angles are shown in blue (interiors are
normally warm and exteriors cold).
…there is one more snippet of information which is useful to know and that is that the sum
of all the exterior angles of any polygon = 360o.

IS THIS YOUR AREA?

A salesperson normally covers what is called an area. In this case the area represents various
counties and towns in which the salesperson will try to sell their goods.
When someone says "Is this your area?" they are saying "Is this part of your field of
expertise?".
Area is a word we use to describe space when looking at a 2D (two dimensional) picture.
The area of 3D shapes (e.g. cubes, balls, tin cans etc.) is normally called surface area. It's the
area taken up by whatever is around the shape.
If you go and buy a fitted kitchen, the shop asks you for the current measurements of your
kitchen and any of the things in it - fridge, washing machine etc. You take the measurements
along to a sales advisor who will plug the details into a computer system and show you your

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kitchen drawn onto a grid (criss-cross squares). Normally kitchen units are of standard sizes
so the grid can be made to represent for example 2 centimetres per meter. Next the images
of your glorious new fitted kitchen can be added to the grid of your current kitchen so that
you can see in detail how much money you will be expected to part with.
Grids are used in a similar way in various design jobs to make placement and understanding
of objects easier. Knowledge of area when using grids will make things much easier,
particularly when dealing with shapes that are a bit more complex than the squares and
rectangles of kitchen cabinets.
Finding the areas of shapes when you have a grid is really easy - all you do is count the squares.
Imagine all the following grids have squares which are 1cm by 1cm - the area of each 1 by 1
square is 1cm2 (more maths shorthand which means one centimeter squared).
Here is an object which could be the shape of someone's kitchen (when looking down from
above):

What is the area of the kitchen? Count the squares ticking off each one when you've counted
it so as not to lose count, which will give the answer 17. If you are told that each square
represents a meter in the actual kitchen, then the area is 17m2. If each square represented 2
meters then the area would be 17 lots of 2m2 squares which is 34 m2 and so on.
Of great interest to builders is the distance around the shape. Imagine that this is the plan for
a room in a house. The builder needs to know how many bricks to buy to make the room, in
addition to the height of the room and the height and length of the bricks, the builder will also
need to know the distance around all the walls - this is also called a perimeter. You may have
heard of the perimeter of a playing field before (handy for grounds maintenance staff to know,
so that they don't run of out whitewash just before the big match).
To work out the perimeter you need to count how many squares are covered by each line and
add them together i.e. 3 + 5 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 15m.

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Areas of triangles
There is a really easy way to work out the area of a triangle - Make it into a rectangle and
divide the answer by 2!
Have a look at the triangle below:

You can see that there are 6 whole squares in the triangle and what seem to be 4 half squares,
add the four half squares together then add to the number of whole squares already counted
and you get the answer 8 (which is correct, but note that this gets much harder when you try
to calculate the area of triangles with sides of different lengths!)
The quick way that works for all triangles is to make the triangle into a rectangle (the dotted
line in the picture below shows where the line of the original triangle was).

The area of a rectangle (or square) can also be worked out by simply multiplying the lengths
of each side together - you can still count squares if you really want to (though you'll really be
stuffed if you don't have a grid). In the picture above, the area of the rectangle = 4 x 4 = 16cm2.
Divide this by 2 which gives the area of the triangle = 8cm2.
With these simple methods of finding the area of a rectangle and the area of a triangle, you'll
be able to calculate the areas of more complex shapes by breaking the areas down into
rectangles and triangles, calculating the areas of each and adding them all together.

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Shapes Formula

Rectangle:
Area = Length X Breadth
b A=lXb

Perimeter = 2 X Length + 2 X Breadth

P = 2l+ 2b
Parallelogram
Area = Base X Height
a = bh

Triangle
Area = 1/2 of the base X the height
a = 1/2 bh

Perimeter = a + b + c
(add the length of the three sides)
Trapezoid

Perimeter = area + b1 + b2 + c
P = a + b1 + b2 + c

Circle
The distance around the circle is a circumference.
The distance across the circle is the diameter (d).
The radius (r) is the distance from the center to a
point on the circle. (Pi = 3.14)
d = 2r
c = d = 2 r
A = r2
(=3.14)

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 TURN UP THE VOLUME

It's useful to know how to work out the volume of various common 3D shapes. Here are

the main ones:

Rectangular Solid
Volume = Length X Width X Height
V = lwh

Surface = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh

Prisms
Volume = Base X Height
v=bh

Surface = 2b + Ph
(b is the area of the base P is the perimeter of the base)

Cylinder
Volume = r2 x height
V = r2 h

Surface = 2 radius x height

S = 2rh

Pyramid
V = 1/3 bh
b is the area of the base
Surface Area: Add the area of the base to the sum
of the areas of all of the triangular faces. The areas
of the triangular faces will have different formulas
for different shaped bases.

Cones
Volume = 1/3 r2 x height
V= 1/3 r2h
Surface = r2 + rs
S = r2 + rs
=r2 + r

Sphere
Volume = 4/3 r3
V = 4/3 r3
Surface = 4r2
S = 4r2

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 IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME

The Greek mathematician Pythagoras happened to discover a theorem that has been taught
in mathematics classes ever since. Here is a picture of Pythagoras in case you were wondering
what he looked like:

Pythagoras apparently used to scratch out diagrams in the sand on a beach to explain his
latest mathematical discoveries. However as Robert Ainsley puts it in his witty book Bluff
Your Way in Maths: "Pythagoras was the first person to breed a hypotenuse in
captivity...He met his end when he told a Roman Soldier to stop walking over his
hypotenuses and the soldier, who decided he couldn't stand a smart-arse, killed him".

Pythagoras' theorem is as follows:

In a right angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on
the other two sides.

Key:
• Right-angled triangle - Means a triangle, which has an angle of 90 degrees between
two of its sides.
• Hypotenuse - Is a fancy name for the longest side in a right-angled triangle.

Here's diagram to show you where the hypotenuse is:

The hypotenuse can be clearly seen as the

Hypotenuse
longest side of the triangle. The other sides
Opposite
of the triangle are labelled as opposite
(opposite the angle a) and adjacent (next to
a the angle a) - you'll use these more in
Right trigonometry.
angle

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An easy way to visualise Pythagoras' Theorem is by using a diagram like this:
If you draw a right-angled triangle (like
the red one here), then extend each of
the sides of the triangle so that they make
squares. Cut out the squares, with a bit of
cutting and matching you'll find that bits
of both of the blue squares put together
will fit exactly over the yellow square.
In other words, the square created from
the hypotenuse = the square from the
opposite side + the square from the
adjacent side.
This can be shown in algebra as:
h2 = o2 + a2

Whenever you see right-angle triangle problems and you are given the lengths of two of the
sides, then you can always calculate the length of the unknown side by using Pythagoras'
Theorem.
For example:

A roof has a height at the centre of 3m and

the length from the centre of the roof to
the edge is 4m as shown in the diagram.
Calculate the length of the sloping part of
the roof.

This is a classic Pythagoras problem. To solve it first write out Pythagoras' Theorem using the
values you know and call the hypotenuse x (unknown).
x2 = 3 2 + 4 2
The rest is easy (if you know a bit of algebra...)
x2 = 9 + 16
x2 = 25
x = square root of 25 which is 5.
Hence the answer is 5m (REMEMBER THE UNITS)

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 YOUR TURN TO REFLECT

When designers and artists look at shapes they imagine how the shape would look when
turned around or when reflected in a mirror.
The bad news is that to use modern computer graphics packages (which most artists and
designers do) you need to have a basic grounding in the maths, which helps you tell the
computer how you want to move the shapes.

However, the good news is that the maths involved is easy!

The key word you need to know is SYMMETRY. Shapes can "exhibit symmetry", "be
symmetrical" etc. these phrases all mean the same things, either:

The shape can be cut in half (once or more times) and each piece will look the same
(Reflection).
Or
The shape can be turned around its center and at some point before turning full-circle will
look the same as when you started (Rotation).
The shape below has rotational symmetry:

This shape is said to have rotational symmetry of order 4. This means that it can be rotated
into 4 different positions and will still look the same. The pictures below have one of the
sections of the square coloured red to show how the rotations are done:

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 TRANSFORM YOUR ABILITIES

Transformations are used to transform shapes from one position to another or from one size
to another.

There are 4 main transformations:

Transformation Description
REFLECTION You may have met reflections before when looking at symmetry.
Reflections create a "mirror image" of a shape.
ROTATION You may have met rotations before when looking at symmetry.
Rotations turn a shape a certain distance around a fixed point.
TRANSLATION Translations move a shape by sliding it around.
ENLARGEMENT Enlargements make a shape bigger (or smaller).

1) REFLECTIONS
A reflection is made with the use of a mirror line. Each corner of the shape is reflected to the
opposite side of the mirror line. The reflected image of each corner is perpendicular (at
right-angles) to the mirror line and is the same distance from the mirror line as the original
corners.

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2) ROTATIONS
A rotation is made about a centre of rotation with the distance rotated indicated by the
angle of rotation. A positive rotation goes anti-clockwise and a negative rotation goes
clockwise. The rotation is made by connecting a corner of the shape to the centre of rotation
and rotating it.

3) TRANSLATIONS

A translation is shown as 2 numbers in a matrix e.g. . The x means how many units you
should slide the shape horizontally and the y means how many units you should slide the
shape vertically. A positive x means moving to the right while a negative x means moving to
the left. A positive y means moving up while a negative y means moving down.

4) ENLARGEMENTS
An enlargement is made with a center of enlargement and a scale factor which tells you the
change in size. Join a corner of the shape to the center of enlargement. Measure the length
of this line. Multiply this by the scale factor and extend the line to this length. Repeat this
with all of the corners and then join the ends up. A negative enlargement means the image
is on the opposite side of the center of enlargement.

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 ROUND TRIPS

"Round Trips" takes you on a quick journey around the ways angles behave when lines and
circles are combined. Before we do this you'll need to know some of the special terms,
which are used to describe parts of a circle. Unfortunately you'll need to know these
"jargon" terms, as it will certainly be examiner-speak for these types of problems.

There are just a couple more terms, which you need to know: perpendicular means at right-
angles to and bisector means something which cuts a sector into two.
If you now learn these properties in the table below you should be able to answer any
questions which involve circles and lines. Don't worry about the words, make sure that you
visualise what is happening and remember it (the easiest way to do this may be to try out
some practice problems).

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The angle at the center is twice the angle at the circumference.

Angles in the same segment are equal.

The angle in a semicircle is always a right-angle.

Opposite angles of a cyclic quadrilateral (i.e. all points of the

quadrilateral are on the circumference) add up to 180° (a + c =
180° and b + d = 180°).

A tangent meets the radius of a circle at 90° (a right-angle).

The angle between a tangent and a chord is equal to the angle in

the alternate segment.

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 The perpendicular bisector of any chord passes through the center
of the circle.

The lengths of two tangents from a point are equal.

When you are asked to answer questions on circle properties, you must give reasons
explaining why your solution is correct. For example if you say something like angle a = angle
b on its own you could be guessing.

CARTESIAN CO-ORDINATE SYSTEM

The horizontal lines and vertical lines are called a set of axes. We called the horizontal axis
the X – axis and the vertical the Y – axis. We can also show negative numbers going to the
left of zero on the X – axis and below on the X – axis, and below zero on the Y – axis.
According to mathematical convention the four ‘areas’ that we obtain using this
representation are called quadrants. Each quadrant is a flat plane comprising a whole lot of
addresses. Usually we work only with addresses applicable to the problem that concerns us.

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According to mathematical convention, the dependent variable is indicated on the vertical
axis (Y), and the independent variable on the horizontal axis (X).

In mathematics, locations on the Cartesian Plane are called pairs of coordinates and we refer
to them as points.

The first number in an address or pair of coordinates indicates the distance from the vertical
axis (the x – value), and the second number is the distance from the horizontal axis (the y-
value). If the axes are clearly marked, the addresses need not be written on the flat plane.

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You should always indicate the names of the axes very clearly; otherwise you will not know
what is going on. The name of the axes should relate to the specific problem that you are
working with.

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