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Math help from the Learning Centre

This guide provides useful resources for a wide variety of math topics. It is targeted at students enrolled in a math course or any other Centennial course that requires math knowledge and skills.

2-D Shapes

Quadrilaterals

quadrilateral is a closed 2-D figure with four straight sides ("quad" means four and "lateral" means side).

Some properties of quadrilaterals have are:

  • Four sides (edges)
  • Four vertices (corners)
  • Interior angles that add to \(360^{\circ}\)

There are a few special quadrilaterals with specific names based on their properties:

  • Rectangle
  • Square
  • Parallelogram
  • Rhombus
  • Trapezoid
Quadrilateral - Wikipedia

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Tip: Based on their properties, all rectangles, squares, and rhombuses are parallelograms, but not all parallelograms are rectangles/squares/rhombuses! Similar idea occurs with rectangles and squares - all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

Triangles

When the base and height of a triangle are given, the area is calculated as:

\(Area=\frac{1}{2} \times base \times height\)

                                             \(=\frac{1}{2}bh\)

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When all the side lengths of the triangle are given, the area is calculated using Heron's Formula:

\(Area=\sqrt{s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)}\),

where \(s=\frac{1}{2}(a+b+c)\)

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Circles

Arc Any connected part between two points on a circle.
Chord A line segment whose endpoints lie on the circle (divides a circle into two segments).
Radius The straight-line segment that connects a centre of the circle to a point on a circle.
Sector A figure formed by two radii and an arc (determined by the endpoints of the radii).
Segment A figure formed by an arc and chord joining the endpoints of the arc.

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3-D Figures

Vertex (Vertices) A point where two or more line segments meet (i.e. a corner). 
Edge (Edges) A line segment joining one vertex/corner to another or a line segment where two faces meet.
Face (Faces) Any individual flat surface of a 3D figure.
Surface Area Total area of the surfaces of a 3D figure.
Lateral Area Surface area of a 3D figure, excluding its base and top (when they exist).
Volume The amount of 3D space that is occupied/taken up by a 3D figure.

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Examples

    Example 1

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