Loveday Writing

Following on from my previous post about my love of formulas, I came across more of them in chapter 5, when I reached the exercises that focus on area, volume and surface area.

As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve always loved formulas as I believe having a formula to follow is the easiest way to solve a mathematical problem I’m presented with.

So with that in mind, you can imagine my delight when I reached pages 203-204 of my textbook where I found a table of area formulas for various shapes, and even parts of shapes:

Exercise 5.06 focused on area and I had to use these formulas to complete it.

Exercise 5.07 incorporated the trapezoidal rule, a rule I don’t recall learning in my senior years of high school, this rule provides a formula for calculating the area of an irregular shape such as one with a curved size (e.g. a pond, swimming pool or curved driveway). I found this rule interesting as I have always wondered how an area that is an irregular shape can be calculated.

Exercises 5.08-5.10 focus on volume and surface area, which apply to 3D shapes or solids. The volume of a solid is the amount of space it occupies, the surface area is the sum of the area of its faces.