Interactive · 3 questions
Rectangles are parallelograms with right angles. This means that all their angles are 90 degrees, their diagonals bisect, and their two pairs of sides are parallel.
Area and Perimeter
The perimeter of a rectangle is
The area of a rectangle is where l is the length and w is the width.
Symmetry
Rectangles have two lines of symmetry. They are:
Special Properties about Rectangles
A rectangle is a cyclic quadrilateral - that is, every one of its points would fit on the edge of a circle. The radius of that circle would be half of a diagonal.
The diagonals are of equal length and bisect at equal angles.
Here's a little quiz about rectangles: (don't look at the article you just read)
If a diagonal of a rectangle is 13 inches and one of its sides is 12, what is the rectangle's perimeter?
How many lines of symmetry does a rectangle have?
A 1 by 2 rectangle is inscribed in a semicircle with longer side on the diameter. What is the area of the semicircle? (2013 AMC 8)
Link to solution of third question.
Overall, rectangles are pretty interesting shapes!
~ Abigale Kim (a+bi)