Section 2.6: Perimeter and Area of Composite Figures

Section 2.6 – Perimeter and Area of Composite Figures

Often you need to find the area or perimeter of a shape that is not a standard polygon. Artists and architects, for example, usually deal with complex shapes. However, even complex shapes can be thought of as being composed of smaller, less complicated shapes, like rectangles, trapezoids, and triangles.

You need to create regions within the shape for which you can find the area, and add these areas together. The trick to figuring out these types of problems is to identify shapes (and parts of shapes) within the composite figure, calculate their individual dimensions and then add them together.