Find the perimeter of parallelograms, kites, rhombuses and trapeziums

Lesson

Practice

Lesson

Quadrilaterals

Shapes with 4 sides (quadrilaterals) include the parallelogram, rhombus, kite and trapezoid. What makes these shapes special? In some cases, there are features that can help us work out their perimeter more easily. That means we can use the process that we use to calculate the perimeter for polygons, with some short cuts!

By looking closely at the diagrams, we are able to see how to work out the perimeter of these shapes, even if we don't have all of the side lengths. Here's how we can do this:

Remember!

We need to add up the length of each side to find the perimeter, so special shapes may have some sides the same length. Making sure we check the diagram can help us use this information correctly.

Examples

QUESTION 1

Find the perimeter of the trapezoid shown.

QUESTION 2

Find the perimeter of the rhombus shown.

QUESTION 3

Find the perimeter of the parallelogram shown.

Did you know?

A trapezoid may have no sides the same length, so we have to make sure we look at the diagram clearly.

Outcomes

6.M2.01

Select and justify the appropriate metric unit (i.e., millimetre, centimetre, decimetre, metre, decametre, kilometre) to measure length or distance in a given real-life situation