Ins Notes For Part III

Instructor Overview of Part III:
Reasoning about Shapes and Measurement

Goals. Our primary goal is that elementary (and middle) school teachers become comfortable
enough with a variety of geometrical shapes and their allied numerical measurements so that
they will prepare them to teach this content. Teachers should also attain a certain level of spatial
reasoning.
Key Ideas. Here are the key ideas presented in Part III: Reasoning about Shapes and
Measurement, although not necessarily in this order:
Shapes
Beginning with the study of three-dimensional shapes provides an entrance (for most
students) into unfamiliar shapes that motivates the study of geometry in a manner that
beginning with the more familiar two-dimensional shapes does not. Considering the faces
of polyhedra can lead into the study of two-dimensional shapes.
Exploring three-dimensional shapes allows opportunities to learn about and put into
practice spatial visualization. Having a self-constructed set of polyhedra provides
students with ways to explore three-dimensional shapes.
Shapes can be classified, giving rise to hierarchies based on the properties of individual
shapes. Students must understand and appreciate definitions for these shapes and know
their conventional names.
Size changes of planar and space figures require understanding similarity (based on
proportional reasoning). The use of a scale factor in determining size change leads to
viewing a size change as a function.
Shapes, both two- and three-dimensional, may have symmetries of different types.
Rigid motions (isometries) include translations, reflections, rotations, and glide
reflections. The figure that results from a rigid motion is congruent to the original figure.
Measurement
(Direct) measurement of a characteristic of an object involves matching the object with a

unit, or copies of a unit, having that characteristic. The matching should be based on the
characteristic. The number of units, along with the unit, gives the measurement, or the
value, of the quantity associated with the characteristic.
Standard units are used since they are relatively permanent and enable communication
over time and distance. Non-standard units may be used in schools to allow a focus on
the process of measurement.
Measurements are approximate, unless one includes counts as measurements; counts can
be exact.
A quantity may be measured by thinking of the object being measured as cut into a
number of pieces, measuring the quantity in each piece, and then adding up to those
values.
Measurement formulas are based on the characteristics of the object being measured.
Estimation of measurements is a practical skill that deserves attention in the curriculum.
Instructor Overview of Part III
page xviii
Starting with three-dimensional work was a deliberate choice. Because a rigorous, proof-oriented
course is not intended and because the students are assumed to have some familiarity with
geometry, the gradual build-up from points, lines, and planes is not essential; one can deal with
the relatively unfamiliar 3D shapes early, building in any review of terms necessary. The main
reason for choosing to start with something unfamiliar is that the tone for the effort to be
expended on a course is often set during the first few class sessions. Our experience suggests that
when the start of a course treats familiar material first, some students fall into low-effort
patterns. Three-dimensional vocabulary is new to most of the students, so more effort is
immediately called for than would be the case with a from-the-ground-up development.
However, you may nonetheless prefer to begin with two-dimensional work.
One theory that has shaped how some topics in this book are treated is that of the van Hieles,
Dutch educators who studied geometry learning and teaching extensively. Two of their main
points are that the understanding of topic X exists in levels of understanding, and that teaching
should recognize these levels. For example, to expect students to prove results about rhombuses
when they can scarcely recognize a rhombus is not apt to be fruitful. At a first level, students
might recognize a shape as a rhombus solely on its global appearance, without attention to
particular features or relationships that make the shape a rhombus. Instruction that leads the
students to focus on the pertinent features or relationships in a rhombus could then result in a
higher level of understanding. Eventually students can recognize hierarchical relationshipsfor
example, a rhombus is a special parallelogram; a square is a special rhombusand perhaps
deductively establish results for rhombusesfor example, the area of a rhombus is half the
product of the lengths of its diagonals. Occasionally in RSM you will notice a sequence showing
a van Hiele influence: gross recognition, then focus on features, then perhaps some sort of
reasoning that should lead to a result.
Perhaps more importantly, every theory of learning assumes that the student is engaged. Keep
that in mind when you are planning a class. Discussions usually lead to more involvement than
does only note-taking during lectures. Questions calling on manipulative materials seem to
accomplish the same thing. You can punctuate any lecturing you do with questions and do this
now exercises or explorations. Explaining what students should get from homework reading
and exercises may be helpful in adding to their engagement there; an attitude of What can I
learn from the homework? is much better than a What can I do to finish this as quickly as
possible? posture. Engagement in what? is, however, the ultimate concern. Exercises in
sense-making, not only exercises in memory retrieval, should be routine. Although work on
knowledge of vocabulary and other conventions is not unimportant, work that focuses on
conceptual development and explanations is perhaps more important for prospective teachers.
Your Students. This information may be useful to you if you have never taught preservice or
practicing K-8 teachers. Their mathematics backgrounds and confidence levels cover an
enormous range; some should be math majors, others are still struggling with fractions and
decimal points; some welcome any challenging problem, others feel that they should be expected
only to imitate worked-out examples. As with most required mathematics classes, your toughest
jobs will be to convince the weaker students that they can indeed succeed and to inspire the
indifferent students to love and admire mathematics and mathematical thinking.
Sometimes students are expecting a methods-of-teaching course. Although there are indirect
messages about teaching methods built into the materials (for example, some work in small
groups, hands-on manipulatives, explanations as a part of mathematics), the concern here is
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building understanding of shapes and measurement, not of how to teach shapes and
measurement.
Some students preconceptions about geometry are negative, often influenced by a secondary
school course in which they had negative or mysterious experiences with proof. Although this
material is concerned with justifications of results, the level of those justifications is not that of a
rigorous mathematics course for majors. Indeed, the usual apparatus for proofs based on triangle
congruence does not receive a significant amount of attention, and arguments utilizing symmetry
will be acceptable even without a careful definition of symmetry. There are activities aimed
toward making clear that although patterns and drawings are excellent sources of conjectures,
they are not safe grounds for general conclusions.
Assumed Background. The assumptions are that the students did have a course in geometry in
secondary school but that they may remember only a little from that course. Some of the early
work is intended to reveal how much vocabulary is remembered. Ideally, Section 17.1, a review
of some planar vocabulary, could be skipped. Most students can name some shapes (e.g., square,
rectangle, triangle, circle), and many remember A = lw and V = lwh. However, most often they
do not spontaneously regard a square as a special rectangle, and they might be willing to use
formulas in inappropriate places. We have assumed that the students can read and use a ruler and
a protractor, although for an occasional student the protractor is a new tool. There is an appendix
for those who have never worked with a protractor. We also assume a minimal level of algebraic
skill, but we have found that some students have little or no familiarity with square roots, beyond
pressing a calculator button.
Some Non-routine Problems. There is much to praise in a problem-based curriculum.
Although there are some meaty problems in the Activities, Discussions and Learning
Exercises of Shapes and Measurement, the materials are not set up to build on non-routine
problems. On the other hand, we have used some problems that do involve some explanation and
longer write-ups by students. We recommend them to users, who may have favorite additional
and/or alternative ones. Pages for use with the students are included in the Auxiliary Materials
folder. Here are the times we have used them.
16.2 Introduction to Polyhedra
Polyhedra from Polygon Regions (This activity is mentioned in the Instructors Notes
for Section 16.2. Although no write-up is required, it gives an opportunity for a
relatively nondirected exploration. This activity does require access to polygonal
regions that can be connected to make polyhedra.)
17.1 Review of Polygon Vocabulary
Star Polygons (This problem allows the extensive gathering of data. Its solution does
require some sensitivity to factors of numbers, since the pairs of numbers that are
relatively prime do give star polygons. We have used this problem even with students
who have not had a recent treatment of number theory.)
19.1 Tessellating the Plane
There is no supplementary instruction sheet here, but several instructors have had their
students make a tessellation, perhaps with more than one modification of some basic
shape involved. Some students can be quite imaginative, and the colorful nature of most
of the products plants some seeds.
20.1 Size Changes in Planar Figures
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A Puzzle about a Puzzle (This activity is included in the student materials as an opener
to the work on similarity, primarily to help identify additive thinkers and to
communicate to them that their additive thinking does not work in this context.)
22.1 Some Types of Rigid Motions
Shapes from Four Triangles (This activity calls for careful attention to Exercise 7 in
Section 22.1. Again, the problem shows the value of some sort of systematic approach.
The idea is from Marilyn Burns, who uses two triangles of two colors each, a more
complicated set-up.)
24.1 Area and Surface Area
Edges and Insides (As you may know, students sometimes have trouble keeping
perimeter and area straight, or assume that shapes with the same perimeter will have the
same area, and vice versa. Although these points come up in scattered exercises, both
are combated here. This bare-bones activity can be put into a context, as it was in a
student activity by NCTM: The square regions can be thought of as tiles, and there is a
concern not only for the number of tiles but also for the length of edging that would be
needed.)
24.2 Volume, or 25.2 Volume Formulas
Box Dimensions (We have used this assignment for review purposes and to have the
students write, but the problem could be used with Chapter 24 or 25. The intent is that
students will see the value and even the necessity of some sort of systematic approach.)
Technology. To maximize its usability, Reasoning about Shapes and Measurement does not
require any computer work. Such work is, however, highly recommended. We include a short
set of optional lessons on using Geometers Sketchpad, designed for us by Janet Bowers. The
lessons serve as an introduction to this powerful software program and perhaps a motivation to
learn more about Sketchpad. They can be found at http://sdmp-server.sdsu.edu/nickerson/.
The four lesson sets (Special Triangles, Special Quadrilaterals [containing constructions by side
lengths and by diagonals], Transformation Geometry, and Sum of Interior Angles of a Polygon)
are aligned with various sections of the chapters where these shapes and properties are learned.
Instructor side notes will point to these places. Each set of lessons contains interactive java
applets with reflection questions and answers, video tutorials showing how to create the sketch
using GSP, and step-by-step construction directions that can be downloaded. This introduction
provides sufficient information for students to begin experimenting with Sketchpad. If you
choose, you can of course provide further instruction for the students. These lessons are
particularly useful when these materials are used in a course for middle school teachers.
Several websites also produce excellent activities relevant to Shapes and Measurement that
show, for example, rotations of polyhedra (good for spatial visualization), creation of planar
tessellations, and work with transformation geometry. We particularly recommend the lessons
and activities on the Illuminations website (http://illuminations.nctm.org), and we reference that
site in the text.
Most of the drawings in the material were made with the Geometers Sketchpad on a Macintosh,
and most that are in the Auxiliary Materials folder come from the Geometer's Sketchpad. A
Triangle Solutions spreadsheet in Excel is in the Auxiliary Materials folder; the spreadsheet
allows you to create triangles that have, say, integral sides for ease of computation with similar
or right triangles, but without faking the angle sizes. The spreadsheet allows SSS or SAS or
ASA information to be entered, with the measurements of the other parts then calculated.
page xxi
Manipulatives. In the early going we hoped to make the material maximally usable by avoiding
any special equipment that a department might neither own nor have access to (colleagues in
departments of education are, however, often a source of manipulatives). Of course, exposing the
students to any materials that they might see in the schools is certainly desirable and, to use the
same argument as the one for use with younger students, might lead to better learning on the part
of the college students. The kit of 3D shapes the students assemble for Section 16.2 are vital, and
they involve only a small cost. Dot paper could be used instead of geoboards. Chalkboard or
whiteboard drawings, though static, might serve in the absence of flexible linkages or computer
sketches.
Students should be required to have these items: (inexpensive) compass, ruler, protractor,
scissors, transparent tape. Scisssors and tape are required to make the kit from the nets found in
the first chapter. We have occasionally asked the students to buy a set of 100 interlocking snap
cubes that can be purchased by the campus bookstore at www.eaieducation.com/cubes (or other
sites). Students should also use the square dot paper and the isometric dot paper in their
materials as masters and make several copies of each.
If finances permit, we recommend that you have on hand
Polydrons, a commercial kit of interlocking plastic regions that are useful for
explorations and teacher demonstrations, also available at many sites. ETA Cuisenaire at
www.etacuisenaire.com, Didax at www.didax.com, and EAI at www.eaieducation.com
are but a few.
Interlocking snap cubes usually 2 cm by 2 cm by 2 cm. (With contrasting colors, even
this size is fairly serviceable for an in-class demonstration.)
Other 3D shapes. Many departments have commercial kits, but candy, cosmetics, light
bulbs, cans, and so on, sometimes come in unusually shaped containers.
Pentominoes are mentioned in an exercise in Section 16.3; we mention them here only
because there are commercial versions available that your students may see in schools.
A transparent cube (nice but not essential for seeing different shapes in cross-sections of
a cube). Instructors have also used clay, Play-Doh, and even cheese, to be cut with
knives, putty knives, or dental floss.
Cardboard templates for difficult-to-sketch regions (for example, regular polygons) are
useful to the instructor for illustrations and for chalkboard drawings. Caution: Students
need practice making free-hand sketches, and sometimes when an instructor just holds
up a region they do not make any drawings.
Pattern blocks. We include the masters in an appendix and have them run on cardstock.
We recommend that the instructor have a plastic transparent set for use on an overhead
projector.
A chalkboard protractor, or a transparent one for use with an overhead projector, is
useful on occasion, but particularly if you have to instruct on how to use a protractor.
Thin paper for paper-tracing (ideal: the paper used to separate meat patties, from a
restaurant-supply store).
MIRAs (plastic devices for use with reflections).
There are many catalogues from which you may purchase such materials. A few to try are ETA
at www.etacuisenaire.com, Didax at www.didax.com., and EAI at www.eaieducation.com.
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Homework. It is probably accurate to say that it is when doing homework that a student really
learns the material. You know the importance of homework; some students apparently do not.
Indeed, in some cases you may well decide to devote class time to topics in exercises. Some
exercise lists contain too many exercises for a session-to-session assignment, so you will have to
pick and choose. You may also wish to save some exercises, or parts of exercises, for
assignments later in the course, to build in an ongoing review of the earlier topics. A question
such as "What did you learn from the homework?" is quite in order.
The exercises are called Learning Exercises for a reason. There is some practice involved, but
the purpose of these exercises is to help students parse the material in a manner that will lead to
understanding. Students should be expected to do homework, not for the instructor, but because
they learn and solidify their knowledge through homework. This concept of homework is
sometimes difficult for them, and they may complain when some homework is not graded. The
purpose in grading homework is to help you know what students understand and do not
understand, and not all homework needs to be graded to accomplish this purpose. Many answers
in the student version will help students know if they are on the right track. The instructors
version has information on which learning exercises do not have answers in the student version.
Almost all answers are included in the instructor version.
Classwork. The activities and discussions are planned to be done in class, although you may
decide to assign some as homework, or to discuss selected learning exercises in class as part of
the instruction. Some of the exercises or discussion questions are fertile enough that different
solution methods are possible and even likely. A variety of approaches or thinking sometimes
comes up in group work, and such occurrences should be noted to the class in a positive fashion.
Giving attention to "how I was thinking about the situation" is something that many students do not
automatically do.
Your questioning will be a key to developing the students sensitivity to sense-making. Some of
your planning might involve thinking of a few good questions to ask; others will arise in the
flow of discussions (do not feel that you have to answer every question that students ask). Be
aware of your wait-times(1) the interval between the asking of a question and the calling for a
response and (2) the interval after a question is answered but before the discussion continues.
Longer wait-times naturally allow more time for thought, time that might be needed for a large
part of the class. When teachers extend their wait-times to 510 seconds from the commonly
observed one second, participation increases, both quantitatively and qualitatively. This
observation makes sense; of course the really fast students, by definition, will give answers
quickly. But other students may also be capable of figuring something out if given just a bit more
time. Similarly, the post-answer wait-time gives students time to evaluate a response and not just
to rely on your reaction.
Our intention is to help you, the instructor, move beyond lecture-only to incorporate group work
and whole class work. Prospective teachers should experience mathematical pedagogy that will
be appropriate for them to use as teachers.
Students usually do take notes during lectures (a cautionary rule of thumb: If you dont write it
down, it will not appear in the students notes). Students should also be encouraged to take notes
during Discussions, during work with manipulatives, and when vocabulary and general results
are encountered in the exercises. These appear to be occasions when students fail to put items
that require consolidation or review into reviewable form. For example, some result that may be
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clear at the time of work during class may be forgotten if there is no written record or
highlighting of the result.
An important aspect of the formatting is that each text page has a wide outer margin. In the
instructor version this space is used for notes to the instructor, and in the student version there is
empty space deliberately provided for notes. This has proved to be an attractive feature for
students, and encourages them to write in their text and keep it for future reference.
Testing. Most instructors will use standard quizzes or tests as at least part of their evaluation of
students. An assortment of items used by our instructors and colleagues at other universities is
included in the Auxiliary Materials. On tests we try always to include at least one item, and
preferably more, requiring that the student give explanations, even though such items take longer
to mark.
Timeline. The content in Part III is unlikely to be taught in its entirety in one semester. You will
need to make decisions along the way on what is essential to keep in the course. If your
institution has the luxury of three or four courses, some of this content can be shifted to another
course.
Thus in a one-semester course for elementary teachers we might omit Sections 16.4 and 16.5 on
congruent polyhedra and special polyhedra; and 22.222.5 on Transformation Geometry
(keeping only 22.1). We assume 3 hours of instruction per week. The following estimates are for
a 15-week semester and are based on our own experiences in teaching this content. Additional
time will be needed for review and for testing. Note that measurement requires a substantial
amount of time.
16 Polyhedra (2.5 weeks)
We highly recommend that students use the nets provided to build their own personal sets
of polyhedral shapes to be used in this course. Many of the shapes and terms will be new
to students. The section on representing and visualizing polyhedra is difficult for students
with poor spatial visualization. If time is likely to be tight, skip the sections on congruent
polyhedra and special polyhedra. In a course for middle school teachers there should be
time for these sections.
17 Polygons (1.5 weeks)
The first two sections, on vocabulary and the ordering of shapes, may be a review for
some students, yet new to others. The study of triangles and quadrilaterals leads to a
hierarchical classification. Some instructors who know that their students' background in
geometry is weak start with Chapter 17.
18 Symmetry (1 week)
The study of symmetry of shapes in a plane is essential for teachers. Symmetry of
polyhedra could be deferred unless this class is for middle school teachers.
19 Tessellations (1 week)
Tessellating the plane is enjoyable and many students like to design figures that
tessellate, but take care not to spend too much time here. Tessellating space could be
deferred unless this class is for middle school teachers.
20 Size Changes and Similarity (1.5 - 2 weeks)
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Chapter 20 is a very important chapter. Scale factors are used to transform figures into
similar figures. The study of similarity continues our study of proportional reasoning
from Parts I and II.
21 Curves, Construction, and Curved Surfaces (1week)
Planar curves and curved surfaces are studied here. Standard ruler-compass constructions
are undertaken.
22 Transformation Geometry (1 day to 2 weeks)
An introduction to some types of rigid motions is necessary because they appear in
elementary school textbooks. Finding images of rigid motions and compositions of rigid
motions can be deferred unless this class is for middle school teachers.
23 Measurement Basics (0.5 weeks)
This chapter provides a foundation for the subsequent chapters dealing with measurement
24 Area, Surface Area, and Volume (1.5 weeks)
Students have many misconceptions about these topics, and often do not understand the
covering and filling with standard units necessary to find area and volume.
Misconceptions also show up when they confuse area with perimeter.
25 Counting Units Fast: Measurement Formulas (1 week)
The standard formulas are developed in this chapter, with attention to justifications.
26 Special Topics in Measurement (1 week)
Be sure to find time for the Pythagorean Theorem in this chapter (Section 26.1) even if
you cant cover all of the chapter.
If your course is designed for middle school teachers we think all of the chapters and sections
should be included.
As the outline suggests, we have followed a Cooks tour approach to geometry, as opposed to
a less is more treatment. A less is more course is certainly possible, using some of the
sections here as starting points or reference materials. If you are not familiar with the distinction
between the two approaches, Cooks tour is an informal description of a course covering many
topics (the typical course), whereas a less is more course allows more attention to explorations,
projects, and extended work on open-ended problems but naturally does not cover every
traditional topic. We hope that we have combated the broad but shallow criticism of a typical
Cooks tour by attention to some central ideas and skills for the teacher. We have also chosen
topics on a need-to-know (for the typical K-6/7 curriculum) criterion rather than a nice-to-know
(because it is good knowledge) criterion.
page xxv
Instructor Notes for Chapter 16

Sections in Chapter 16:
16.1 Shoeboxes Have Faces and Nets! Drawing shoeboxes, new terms face, edge, vertex,
net. Isometric dot paper. This section recognizes that it may be a first-day lesson, and
students will not have assembled their kits of polyhedra.
16.2 Introduction to Polyhedra. Prisms and pyramids, and related vocabulary. Eulers
formula for polyhedra.
16.3 Representing and Visualizing Polyhedra. Translating among different representations
(physical model, word, net, drawing). Drawing prisms and pyramids.
16.4 Congruent Polyhedra. Light use of isometry language. (Can be skipped or deferred.)
16.5 Some Special Polyhedra. The regular polyhedra. (Can be skipped or deferred.)
16.6 Issues for Learning: Dealing with 3D Shapes. Common difficulties.
16.7 Check Yourself. Overview of what was covered
INSTRUCTOR NOTE 16
Mathematically speaking, work with polygons should come before work with polyhedra because
polyhedra have faces that are polygons. However, we chose to work with polyhedra first because
we know how important it is to set a tone for a course from the very beginning. The study of
polyhedra, with an emphasis on visualization, is newer to students and is less likely to lead
students to feel that this course is a review of what they already know. Several people who have
taught from this text do prefer the order we use. We do note that there is some review of
polygons in the chapter on polyhedra.
As the instructor, you may decide to reverse the order of Chapters 16 and 17, and you should
encounter no problem in doing so, particularly if your students are weak and have little
background even with polygons.
INSTRUCTOR NOTE 16.1A
For courses that start with geometry, Section 16.1 allows time for the students to construct their
kits of polyhedra for Section 16.2 in the second class meeting. Despite the whimsical title of
16.1, some 3D vocabulary words (face, vertex, edge, net) and a little work on making drawings
(including the use of isometric dot papersee Appendix G) are introduced. Much more
vocabulary and work with drawings come up in later sections.
Be certain to assign the Preliminary Homework Activity in 16.2 before starting 16.2, because the
work there focuses on the 3D shapes that the students will assemble. We strongly suggest that
you have students make and use these shapes. They have proved to be very useful.
The idea of the preliminary exercise is to have at hand a variety of polyhedra on which to base
early discussions, so have the students bring their kits to class. The aim of this section is to
introduce several terms that will be new to most students, as well as to continue to assess what
geometric vocabulary the students bring with them and to lead to Eulers formula for polyhedra
(V + F = E + 2).
Instructor Notes by Section
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Try to make sure that the vocabulary is used correctly once it is introduced. As you may know
from Lakatos (1976), a careful definition of polyhedron has a long history. Well settle for
something like, a closed surface made up of planar regions. This section begins a further
breakdown of polyhedra into pyramids (shapes A, D, G, I), prisms (shapes B, C, E, F) and
others (H, J, K). The term cube (E) should also come up, because it was used in 16.1.
If you choose to make the Sorting Shapes discussion a small-group discussion, write any
vocabulary words you overhear or wish to introduce on the board (with sketches if appropriate).
You can then follow up the small-group discussion with a whole-class summary (prior to the
next discussion), in which you have groups share some of their ideas and attach importance to
the vocabulary that will be used.
You are likely to get several types of sortings from your students, often based on characteristics
such as the number of faces, the types of faces (triangles, rectangles, etc.), or similarity of
appearance (that is, looks like a . . .). Early finishers can be asked to devise another type of
sort. The terms students know will likely be terms for two-dimensional objects. Make positive
remarks about students sorting methods that wont get much attention after the conventional
pyramid and prism come up. Some students may get confused as to why their sorting
method should be any worse than that of traditional mathematics. You may want to justify this
by telling students that there are relationships that apply to all pyramids or prisms, but in general
there are no relationships that apply to all 3D shapes. You may also want to briefly introduce the
notion of a conventionthat is, sometimes one way of doing things is not necessarily better
than another, but we choose one to standardize and to ease communication.
One aim of this section is to get a feel for the vocabulary level of your students. Re-introduce the
terms face, edge, and vertex. You may have to repeat that face is used in mathematics for the
planar regions instead of the colloquial side, with side reserved for (sides of) polygons and
angles. Polygon may need to be reviewed (a closed planar figure made up of line segments
joined end-to-end, with no crossings allowed), although it is defined in Chapter 17. n-gon may
also need some explanation (it appears in the exercises). There are many terms for the students to
learn both in this section and in future sections. Encourage them to compile their own glossaries
on 3 by 5 cards or in a computer file they can add to and print out. There is, however, a Glossary
toward the end of Shapes and Measurement.
Here are some official definitions:
Pyramids are polyhedra for which one face is any sort of polygonal region (often called the
base of the pyramid), and all the other faces are triangular regions with one corner or
vertex in common.
Prisms are polyhedra having two faces (called bases) that are congruent (exactly alike)
and parallel, and whose other faces (called lateral faces) are parallelogram regions formed
by joining corresponding vertices of the bases.
Pyramids and prisms may be further described by naming the type of polygon making up the
bases: triangular pyramid, rectangular prisms, and so on. Other terms are introduced in the
exercises, so you might wish to anticipate them: A prism is a right prism if the lateral edges
(those not on the bases) are perpendicular to the bases, and an oblique prism otherwise. A
regular pyramid has a regular polygonal region (equal sides, equal angles) as base, with the
other faces all isosceles triangular regions. (This forces the more visual, The other vertex is
right over the center of the base.)
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In a follow-up to Defining Types of Polyhedra, you may want to draw a Venn diagram (for
example, as below) or some other sort of classification diagram (such as below, with the
adjectives right, oblique, and regular given as sub-categories rather than through a
breakdown by type of base) on the board to show that pyramids and prisms are special
polyhedra. Test the vocabulary by holding up any additional shapes you have and asking for
names and best names, using the type of base (and right/oblique if you have introduced them).
For example, right rectangular prism is the sophisticated name for a shoebox shape. Have on
hand or name some non-polyhedral shapesballs, most tin cans.
Venn diagram
All 3D Shapes
polyhedra
prisms
pyramids
Or
All 3D Shapes
polyhedra
prisms
right
others
pyramids others
oblique regular others
You might consider an activity such as Possible Polyhedra from Polygon Regions as an open
type of in-class exploration. Although no write-up is required, it gives an opportunity for a
relatively nondirected exploration. This activity does require access to polygonal regions (for
example, the commercial Polydrons) that can be connected to make polyhedra and serves to
familiarize the students with the material.
INSTRUCTOR NOTE 16.2B
As noted, the two V, F, E activities aim toward Eulers formula: V + F = E + 2 (or any
algebraic equivalent), which holds for polyhedra as we usually think of them. (If the polyhedron
has one or more holes in it, the formula must be adjusted: V + F = E + 2 2h, where h is the
number of holes.) Any biographical data you know about Euler (pronounced Oiler)Swiss, b.
1707, d. 1783, 886 books and articles, 13 childrenmight be of interest to your students. For
those students liking biographies, E. T. Bells Men of Mathematics contains a chapter on Euler.
The book by Lakatos (1976) traces the history of Eulers formula, but to make a philosophical
point.
page xxviii
These two activities may involve some visualization and abstraction (for example, seeing that
all the vertices of an n-gonal prism are at the vertices of the two bases). A class discussion in
which students explain how they arrived at answers for the 100-gonal, n-gonal, and (x+y)-gonal
cases should be worthwhile; some will have used only the patterns suggested by the other cases,
and can profit from hearing others use their general knowledge of the shapes.
The primary aims of this section focus on making and reading two-dimensional drawings of
polyhedra, along with more visualization practice. An overview of, and some practice with, other
possible representations are included. Insofar as possible, the students should have practice at
making a drawing, or sketching a net, without the original shape present. The exercises also give
a little more practice with drawings on isometric dot/grid paper (in the Auxiliary Materials file if
you need a master). Again, have various 3D objects at hand to illustrate particular points. The
framework of a cube from Tinkertoys or straws, for example, may be helpful to students.
The twelve possible pentominoes in Exercise 12(b) are available in plastic, and may be in some
schools. If you have a set, this gives a way for students to check: Place the pieces on the
overhead to practice visual memory as they look at the screen, and then look on their papers,
perhaps having to mentally manipulate the shape seen on the screen.
The 12 pentominoes were once boxed in a 6 by 10 container as a puzzledump out the pieces
and then fit them back into the box without pieces overlapping. There are two other excellent
activities with an 8 by 8 board and the pentominoes. One is a solitaire game: Can you put all the
pieces on the board? (A harder version specifies the 2 by 2 square not to be used on the board
ahead of time!) The second is competitive: Taking turns, place a pentomino on the board. If you
cannot, you lose. (This can end in a tie, with no pieces left.) More visualization is forced in the
last game if an additional rule is imposed: If you touch a piece, you must move it.
Whether these two shapes, G and H, are exactly the same may be argued. The copy requires a
reflection in a plane (thus the hint); the two shapes cannot be made to coincide in 3D space
without a reflection. Like the shoes in a pair of shoes, the right fender and left fender on a car, or
the gloves in a pair of gloves, the two are exactly alike but somehow different because they are
not interchangeable. Conventionally, these are regarded as congruent; in advanced work, the
label, oppositely congruent (versus directly congruent), might be used. Doubting students may
be convinced by their familiarity with a similar issue in the 2-D case, as in the congruent halves
from the altitude to the base of an ordinary isosceles triangular region. In the 2D case one can
physically flip a shape in a third dimension. Under the motion approach to be adopted, each of
two congruent shapes can be mapped to the other by a rotation or translation or reflection (or the
composition thereof). Parts that matchcorresponding partswill have the same size.
The definition for regular polyhedra given here is awkward because assuming that students
remember regular polygon is risky. If you have reviewed or covered the term, you can
improve the definition of regular polyhedra by omitting the last sentence.
page xxix
Nets for the five convex regular polyhedra are all included in the student kitsthe regular
tetrahedron (shape A), the regular hexahedron or cube (E), the regular octahedron (H), the
regular dodecahedron (L), and the regular icosahedron (M). Craft stores sometimes have
styrofoam regular icosahedra, and there is often a set of regular polyhedra around a mathematics
department.
That these five types are the only types of (convex) regular polyhedra can be discussed once one
knows how to determine the size of each angle in a convex polyhedron. (See Learning Exercise
29 in Section 23.2.) Here is the gist of the argument: Study all the possibilities of each face angle
at a given vertex; their sum must always be less than 360 for the polyhedron to be convex.
Since there must be at least three faces that meet as a vertex, the face angles for a regular
polyhedra must be less than, or equal to, 120, and thus the only faces that can possibly work are
the triangle, the square, and the regular pentagon. If one allows concave polyhedra, there are four
more regular polyhedra, called star polyhedra because they resemble starbursts (one example:
imagine putting regular pentagonal pyramids on each face of a dodecahedron). A web-search
(for example, with star polyhedra, or star polytopes) can lead to some interesting sites.
In particular, the Geometric Solids and Their Properties lessons at http://illuminations.nctm.org/
have an excellent on-line program that deals (mainly) with the regular polyhedra. It is highly
recommended, both for the students and class sessions.

Here are the section titles for Chapter 17:
17.1 Review of Polygon Vocabulary. Many words, but most official definitions for the
polygons do not appear until 17.3. Some review of notations and angle adjectives.
17.2 Organizing Shapes. Introducing the idea of hierarchical classification.
17.3 Triangles and Quadrilaterals. Warnings about judgments based on drawings or
numerical patterns. Conjectures about quadrilateral family. Official definitions and
hierarchy.
17.4 Issues for Learning: Some Research on 2D Shapes
17.5 Check Yourself
Although we call this section a review of polygon vocabulary, some of this material may be
new to several students. You may wish to assign the section as review and then assess students
understanding of the terms by asking them to show various shapes on a geoboard or on dot paper
(square and/or triangular), with a loop of string and fingers as vertices (perhaps working with a
partner), or just to sketch examples. Some students have trouble with parallels and
perpendiculars in free-hand sketches, perhaps because they are unaware of the relationships. You
may also want to show them a shape and ask them to name it. A loop of string (and fingers), a
transparent geoboard, a geo-strip kit (plastic segments that can be joined), or a Geo-rule
(linked pieces of wood) is handy for showing a variety of polygons. Sometimes a chalkboard
drawing of, say, a parallelogram doesnt do a good job of showing both pairs of parallel sides.
Accordingly, a prepared supply of cardboard parallelogram, rhombus, kite, and even square and
rectangular regions can help make more accurate-looking drawings.
page xxx
At this stage, some students may react solely on the basis of how a shape looks rather than on
any relationships among its sides and/or angles. (cf. 17.4 or the Instructor Note 16.1A). Some of
your questions should be aimed toward noticing these relationships (What makes a rectangle a
rectangle? or What seems to be true about the sides in any rhombus?). Some of the exercises
attempt to focus attention on these important relationships. Hierarchical relationships are pursued
in the next section, with the official hierarchy given in 17.3 and also in the Glossary, under
Polygon.
One alert may be in order: Kite may be regarded as a joke by some students, but it is in many
curricula (and kites do have some interesting properties).
Although many books (and tradition) define a trapezoid as having exactly one pair of parallel
sides, we are adopting the at least one pair of parallel sides definition. This allows a
hierarchical connection between trapezoids and parallelograms. But parallelograms will not be
regarded as special isosceles trapezoids, on the other hand, because the congruent diagonals
feature of isosceles trapezoids is not true for parallelograms in general; isosceles trapezoids are
then linked to rectangles. (See the hierarchy in the Glossary, under Polygon, or in 17.3.) The
designation of isosceles for some of these trapezoids in the drawn examples (the square and
the rectangle) may puzzle some students and bring up the issue of exactly-one versus at-leastone. You should acknowledge that some books use the exactly-one definition, because a student
may bring in an elementary school textbook that uses the exactly-one version. An isosceles
trapezoid for us will be a trapezoid for which the angles next to one of the parallel sides are the
same size, to avoid parallelograms being isosceles trapezoids. Hierarchical relationships are
discussed in the next section, where you may opt for the exactly-one-pair-of-parallel-sides
definition for trapezoids.
INSTRUCTOR NOTE 17.1C
Some students may need a review of the vocabulary and the common notations.
Rather than leave all the numerical work with measurement to the later chapters, some exposure
to length and angle size is assumed. There is no national curriculum in geometry, so it is
difficult to say that some vocabulary will not come up in K-6. But we have made some guesses,
based on elementary school textbooks that we have looked at, and relegated less "important"
angle vocabulary to the exercises. As indicated, some other angle ideas are introduced later,
sometimes in exercises if they do not appear to be mainstream elementary school. Here are
some locations: central and inscribed angles are in Ch. 23; vertical angles, corresponding angles
and alternate interior angles (as with parallel lines), and dihedral angles come up in the exercises
for Section 23.2.
Appendix F ("Using a Protractor to Measure Angle Size") reviews the use of a protractor.
Students should at least on occasion show that they know how to use a protractor.
INSTRUCTOR NOTE 17.1D
Here is a sample of the type of shape called for in Exercise 5(e).
page xxxi
Target figure
(a sailboat)
Solution

Some students find it mysterious that in mathematics classes, squares are considered to be
rectangles. Part of this mystery is due to our natural tendency to give the most informative name
for a shape, and hence a natural induction is that all the sides of a rectangle cannot have equal
lengths. But part of the mystery is likely due to a lack of appreciation for hierarchical
classification systems, or taxonomies.
The early paragraphs, having to do with animals, may be familiar to students from their work in
biology. The concern here is less with biological accuracy than with the why? for
classification schemes. As noted, one reason might revolve around shared characteristics rather
than differences. Siamese cats, lions, and tigers share many characteristics.
Once a classification system or hierarchy is established, ask questions like, Is every dog a
beagle? and, Is every collie a dog? or, Is every salmon a fish? and, Is every fish a
salmon? to emphasize that sub-categories are special cases of the more inclusive categories.
The characteristics defining the more inclusive class apply to all its sub-categories, but not vice
versa.
Similar points should result from the A Square by Any Other Name discussion. One
classification scheme for polygons is given in Section 17.3 and in the Glossary, under
Polygons. It is likely that many students will have the only one pair of parallel sides view for
trapezoids, since that is commonly taught. That version isolates trapezoids, however, implying
that they share no characteristics with any other type of quadrilateral. Yet the area formula for
trapezoids could be used with parallelograms, and the equality of the lengths of the diagonals
and of the sizes of the base angles of an isosceles trapezoid, for example, are shared with
rectangles. So we have given first billing to the "at least one pair of parallel sides" version for
trapezoids even though, as noted, elementary school books might use an "exactly one" version.
With Activity 2 as a caution, the idea in Activity 3 is to gather facts about types of quadrilaterals
from experimental/visual work. Students should have rulers or measuring tapes and protractors.
You may wish to have them use geoboards and dot paper (squared/triangular) for more accurate
work. The students' 3D shapes might also be handy for the Activity 3 as a source of examples of
some polygons. In some circumstances it may be more practical for the groups to meet briefly
toward the end of one class session to parcel out the work (perhaps two students per shape), and
then to meet at the start of the next class session to share results, before a whole-class
compilation.
page xxxii
Although the students have been cautioned about visual evidence by Activity 2, we will make
use of symmetry as a means of justification, and the symmetry will be assumed from looking at
examples. A student sensitive to mathematical proof may point this danger out.
Students may be confused about what they are supposed to do for Activity 3, as the notion of
conjectures may not be familiar to them. You may wish to pick one type of quadrilateral (kites,
for example), and form conjectures as a group so that students can see the idea of the exercise.
You do not have to find all properties of kites, but have the students brainstorm for a while and
write their ideas on the board. If they arent volunteering anything, prompt them with questions
such as, Do you notice anything about the diagonals of a kite? and Is this going to be true for
all kites? Watch for students who give up or are non-participators. Occasionally a student in
group-work decides to let others do the work and then copies their ideas.
Learning Exercise 2 calls for some sort of summary of the conjectures. Make clear in your
summary work that the facts they come up with appear to be true, but that even collectively the
class has not examined every possible triangle or quadrilateral (thus the word conjecture or
educated guess). Research suggests that the students wont feel many doubts about their
conjectures (or will wait for your evaluation) but will have a high degree of trust in results from
their experimental/visual work.
Some fairly standard definitions of the types of quadrilaterals are given next, and then some
examples of how one might establish selected results. The word prove causes apprehension
with some students, so justify is used here. The justifications may not be completely sound
mathematical proofs anyhow (for example, the argument may use symmetry, which will not be
defined carefully), but they will bring out that being asked for justifications is a reasonable
expectation, and that justifications can involve more than references to an example or examples.
Mention that in many current elementary school curricula, children routinely are expected to
justify their results. Do not, however, expect a full appreciation for justifications by all the
students.
You may wish to exhibit a hierarchy for types of triangles and quadrilaterals from Section 17.2,
Discussion1, to contrast with the official hierarchy.
Activity 5 is inserted to alert the students that stopping after noticing a pattern is not enough,
mathematically speaking. Students tend to have a great deal of faith in inductive reasoning.

Here are the section titles for this chapter:
18.1 Symmetry of Shapes in a Plane. Reflection and rotational symmetry only. Symmetry
defined. Using symmetry to justify conjectures.
18.2 Symmetry of Polyhedra. Reflection and rotational symmetry only. Usually skipped
or deferred.
18.3 Issues for Learning: What Geometry and Measurement Are in the Curriculum?
18.4 Check Yourself
This section introduces just two types of planar symmetry: reflections in lines and rotations
about points. The other two types of symmetry in the plane, translation symmetry and glideInstructor Notes by Section
page xxxiii
reflection symmetry, are not usually in the elementary school curriculum and are not covered
until late in Chapter 22. Feel free to introduce them, particularly if a question about other types
of symmetry comes up (both types require an infinite figure, like a line with regularly spaced
barbs).
If you have access to a plastic device that can serve as a two-sided mirror, you might wish to
have your students find lines of symmetry and create symmetric figures with the device. (One
version is called the Mira.) Non-polygonal shapes come up in this section as well, since
symmetry is not confined to polygons.
You or someone in your class may know how to cut a string of paper dolls from a piece of paper.
Such an exercise can be a good visual aid to understanding symmetry.
It is a good idea to bring a cardboard square so that you can illustrate the symmetries of a square
region. A parallelogram region may also be useful later in the section.
You may choose to omit or delay this section if you anticipate running short of time. The
section does show that symmetry is not confined to 2D shapes and does give more visualization
practice, but it is more difficult than 18.1.
Remember to have students bring their cut-out polyhedra to class for this section. It is useful to
have a cube and other three-dimensional figures on hand for these discussions. (Larger ones are
more easily seen, of course.) Shapes made from Polydrons have holes that allow a piece of wire
(from a coat hanger, say) to be used as an axis of rotation.
In space, one can reflect not only in a plane but also in a point or a line, so the longer, symmetry
with respect to a plane, is less ambiguous. Rotational symmetry about a point is also possible
but is not brought up here, nor are other types of three-dimensional symmetries.
After the first activity, you may wish to show how to draw a plane intersecting a polyhedron.
(Perhaps the simplest way is to show only the cross-section of the plane with the polyhedron.
Alternatively, see the drawing for Learning Exercise 9.) There are 9 different planes of
symmetry for the cube, including those joining diagonally opposite edges. (Try picking out one
edge, and see how it can be reflected by different planes to the 7 other edges coplanar with it,
and twice to itself.) For the general right rectangular prism, discuss why the planes joining
diagonally opposite edges are NOT planes of symmetry. As with the rectangle and its diagonals,
although the two parts are congruent, they are not positioned as mirror images. A Play-Doh right
rectangular prism may be useful to illustrate the congruence.
A cube has 13 axes of rotational symmetry: 3 giving 90, 180, 270, and 360 rotational
symmetries, 4 (the diagonals) giving 120, 240, and 360 symmetries, and 6 (through midpoints
of opposite edges) giving only 180 and 360 symmetries. Notice that the 360 rotational
symmetry has 13 different descriptions, but each one of them results in every point ending up
at its original position. So there are only 24 total rotational symmetries. That these are different
can be settled by looking at fixed points (where the axis intersects the cube).
The equilateral-triangular right prism (shape C in the kit) has 4 axes of rotational symmetry, and
6 different rotational symmetries. (The 360 rotation counts just once.)
page xxxiv
During (or after) the activity, raise the question of whether a 360 rotation should count.
Explain that any figure, with any line as axis, would have a 360 rotational symmetry, so the
360 rotational symmetry is called a trivial symmetry. It is usually counted only if there are
other rotational symmetries for a particular axis. Again, although the movement may be different
for 360 rotations with different axes, their net effects are all the same, so they are just different
descriptions of the same symmetry.
It may also be worth noting that, using the same axis and rotating 180 clockwise or rotating
180 counterclockwise has the same effect on every point and hence these are just two
descriptions for the same symmetry. On the other hand, 90 clockwise and 90 counterclockwise
rotations do not have the same final effect on every point, so they are different symmetries.
Points end up in the same places by 90 counterclockwise and 270 clockwise rotations,
however, so these are just two descriptions for the same rotational symmetry.

Here are the section titles for this chapter:
19.1 Tessellating the Plane. Regular polygonal regions. Triangular and quadrilateral
regions. Designing a figure that will tessellate.
19.2 Tessellating Space. Although a short section, usually deferred or skipped.
19.3 Check Yourself
(There is no Issues for Learning section in this chapter.)
This chapter just touches on tessellations of the plane and of space, and gives a breather before
the more demanding work with similarity. The two activities (with the second one given as a
take-home exercise) and perhaps an artwork assignment might give an adequate treatment if you
are short of time.
Cardboard cutouts are very useful in showing tessellations. There are also multitudinous web
sites dealing with tessellations and software for tessellations (TesselMania! is used here).
This brief section can give more experience with polyhedra and can continue the idea of
tessellation, but we have often skipped it for reasons of time. Tessellations of the plane are more
commonly encountered in the elementary curriculum than are tessellations of space, but the
common measurement of volume by filling with cubes is related to space-filling. Make sure that
students bring their polyhedra to class when you discuss this section.

Here are the sections in this chapter:
20.1 Size Changes in Planar Figures. Similarity definition, using scale factor language.
Similar figures through size transformations. Finding missing measurements in
similar figures.
page xxxv
20.2 More about Similar Figures. Relationships between perimeters and areas of similar
figures. AA similarity criterion for triangles. Finding missing measurements in
similar triangles.
20.3 Size Changes in Space Figures. Extension of the above to 3D shapes. Relationship
between volumes of similar 3D shapes.
20.4 Issues for Learning: Similarity. Prevalence of additive thinking.
20.5 Check Yourself
The optional software lesson on Transformation Geometry in the instructional pieces for the
Geometer's Sketchpad allows you to illustrate size changes (called dilations there).
Because similarity involves comparing lengths multiplicatively (instead of the naive use of
additive comparisons), this section is extremely important. Seeing that a multiplicative
relationship should describe lengths in similar figures is not at all obvious, and can be quite
difficult conceptually. The bulk of the conceptual focus will probably be during the A Puzzle
about a Puzzle activity (from the Fall, 1992, Mathematicians and Education Reform Network
Newsletter), so avoid too much intervention (that is, telling) during those discussions.
One erroneous but common approach is to use an additive approach in making the puzzle pieces
(see Lee in Discussion 1), so some students may think that adding 3 cm to each length will give a
piece of the same shape. The hope is that such students, after seeing that this approach does not
give pieces that fit together to give a larger version of the original puzzle, will be receptive to
other explanations. It is easier to see that an additive relation does not work than to see that a
multiplicative relation does. It is handy to have the additive version to show that the pieces do
not fit together. The one following shows how the pieces would look if they were built on the
right angles available, and the indicated lengths were obtained from those in the original puzzle
by adding 3 cm.
page xxxvi
9 cm
8 cm
A
9 cm
5 cm
10 cm
C
10 cm
8 cm
10 cm
12 cm
D
5 cm
7 cm
5 cm
8 cm
Listen during the discussion and activities to gauge how to follow up. One difficulty that some
students have with similarity is dealing with the numbers, often fractions and decimals, that
arise, and the different forms (ratio with colon, ratio in fraction form, equation form).
After the discussions, give visibility to both the ratio form (for example, length in new puzzle/
corresponding length in original = 1 43 ) and also the scale-factor form (for example, length in
new puzzle = 1 43 x corresponding length in original puzzle). Although you may ask your
students to compare Marias and Olivias thinking, you may have to turn Olivias correct 75%
bigger argument into a 175% as long as the original length description to see its equivalence
to Marias description. Ask also, as a reminder, how they handled the angles, to allow
emphasizing that corresponding angles should be the same size.
At least occasionally stay with fractions instead of changing to decimals; always changing
fractions to decimals gives fraction-avoider students an indirect but undesirable confirmation
that fractions should be avoided.
You will notice that the use of scale factors downplays the common use of proportions with
similarity, and the solving of a proportion by "cross-multiplying."
You may wish to illustrate the rubber-band method for changing the size of a shape before you
introduce the ruler method. It is practical only on a chalkboard or whiteboard, but allows the
conjecturing of what scale factor is involved, and illustrates the key role of the center of the size
page xxxvii
change. It also works nicely with curved shapes, whereas the ruler method is practical only for
polygons and other objects made up of straight pieces.
Draw a closed curve, such as a face or heart, on the board (plan ahead a bit, so the enlargement
will fit on the board). Use a chain of, say, 3 linked rubber bands, as identical as you can find.
Have a (trustworthy) student hold one end of the chain firmly against the chalkboard. You hold
the chalk or marker in the loop at the other end of the chain. Adjust the tension in the chain so
that the first knot from the students thumb is over the curve, and trace over the curve, keeping
that knot over the curve. In the meantime, as you move the first knot, mark with the chalk or
marker end. The resulting curve may be wobbly, but it is usually close enough to be visually
convincing that it is an enlargement of the original curve.
The center of the size change is at the point where the student was holding the chain; the scale
factor is (about) 3, if you used 3 rubber bands. Other good questions: What if (the student) had
held the end at a different point? What if I had traced over the original with the second knot?
Can one shrink a shape with this method? (This is possible but difficult to do without
obstructing the students view; trace over the shape with a tracing finger at the end of the chain
and the chalk in the loop at some intermediate knot.) What would be possible with a chain of 4
rubber bands, or 5? Emphasize that in step 3 of the ruler method, both distances are measured
from the center, and not from the point whose image is being found.
You will probably need to put in some rays emanating from the center, so that the relation to the
upcoming ruler method is clear. Surprisingly, sometimes students do not see the ruler method
as the same, in particular the important role played by the rays in the stretched chain of rubber
bands. The ruler method gives a dilation, the basic motion for similarity in transformation
geometry.
Some computer software (for example, the Geometers Sketchpad) also allows one to show
enlargements or reductions of given figures. As with the rubber-band method, putting in the rays
from the center will probably be advisable.
You may need to work through these examples, or preferably others of the same type, since
some students are often rusty at solving similar triangles, particularly with the emphasis here on
scale factors rather than on ratios. The examples involve the angle sum for a triangle. As noted,
in Example 3 the correspondence of sides is not as visually obvious as is often the case. Once
corresponding angles are identified, corresponding sides can be located either by looking at the
angles opposite the sides or by looking at the two angles adjacent to the side of concern.
Look for both of the following approaches to come up in finding lengths BC and WX in Example
2 (once a scale factor has been found):
1. Use of that one scale factor to find both lengths
2. A change of view about new and old to get the inverse of that scale factor to find the
second length.
Students who remember the ratio = ratio approach may resist using the scale factor. We have
usually said that they should be able to do it both ways.
page xxxviii

The main topics in this section are the relationships between the perimeters of similar shapes
(equal to the scale factor) and between the areas of similar shapes (equal to the square of the
scale factor), along with the AA method for recognizing that two triangles are similar. An
example of a justification for the AA method is included in Section 22.5.
This section treats similarity of polyhedra and, by generalization, similarity of all 3D shapes.
Similarity with curved 3D shapes come up in other sections. This section does not depend on
section 20.1 (theoretically, but it is condensed), to allow for courses that treat primarily 3D
material. For courses that cover section 20.1, this section should go fairly fast.
Allow 30 seconds or so think-time before calling for responses to the Related Shapes question
in Discussion 3. Reward any suggestions that won't be pursued (for example, the ones made up
of 5 cubes), explaining that only two ways of being related will get most of the attention here:
Congruence (the same shape, but possibly rotated or reflectedA, C, G, H, I) and similarity
(the same shape, usually enlarged or shrunk and perhaps rotated or reflectedthe congruentto-A family, plus F and J). These ideas are of great importance in elementary geometry. Examine
why B, D, and E do not fit in with our narrow focus on congruence and similarity; E may be
attractive (a stretched-out shape I). Some students may need to maneuver cube figures to see
some congruences.
Watch for this error: Some students count points rather than intervals between points.
Vocabulary (similar polyhedra, scale factor) and key relationships among corresponding angles
(they are the same size) and corresponding lengths (their ratio is the scale factor) should be
emphasized in this section. Surface area (how many squares to cover) and volume (how many
cubes to fill) comparisons should also be insinuated into the development, partly to start
building on what the students know but also to assess what knowledge about measurement the
students bring. For some, A = lw and V = lwh will be the only meanings they have for area and
volume, so be careful not to assume too much prior knowledge. Area and volume for similar
shapes are revisited in the measurement chapters.
It is almost essential that the students be able to build things from cubes. We have always had
them on hand during our courses, and, in fact, have on occasion required the students to buy a
package of 100 cubic centimeters.
You may wish to have the students make their drawings on separate dot paper.
Depending on your students backgrounds, you may need to seed this Think About task by
referring to several lengths (of various dimensions, diagonals,...), angle sizes, areas of faces, total
area, and volumes. At this point, students may be vague on area and volume. Use a square
regions to cover meaning for area, and a cubes to fill meaning for volume, pointing to show
the sizes of squares and cubes you mean.
In your summary, here are some important considerations that repeat the technical meaning for
similar shapes from 20.1: Points on the two shapes can be matched so that (a) every pair of
angles that match have the same size, and (b) the ratio of the values of the lengths of any two
matching segments will be the same. (The ratios must be formed in a consistent fashion, either
page xxxix
always larger to smaller or always smaller to larger.) This ratio is called the scale factor. A
useful form is this one: (new length) = (scale factor) (original length), as well as the ratio or
fraction form. Show both, with an example. The language for multiplicative comparison used
earlier fits well: The new length is (scale factor) times as long as the corresponding original
length.
Multiplicative comparisons of surface areas and volumes are sought in the important Think
About; the ratio of the areas is the square of the scale factor, and the ratio of the volumes is the
cube of the scale factor. In this section these are just experimental conjectures. In the
measurement sections, there is an attempt to add conceptually to these two relationships. If your
students know the length x width x height formula for the volume of a right rectangular prism,
then you can show the three appearances of the scale factor in the corresponding formula for the
image. In the volume section, the focus is on one cubic region and its image.
As with 2D shapes, in most situations which shape is the new and which is the original is
arbitrary. Point this out, emphasizing that so long as the ratios are formed consistently the choice
of new and original can be made either way.

Section headings in this chapter are as follows.
21.1 Planar Curves and Constructions. Circle vocabulary. Standard ruler-compass
constructions.
21.2 Curved Surfaces. Sphere, cylinder, cone vocabulary.
21.3 Check Yourself
(There is no Issues for Learning section in this chapter.)
The names of the curves in the first figure (part of a sine curve, parabola, ellipse, circle,
hyperbola) are not too important for our purposes, but the circle vocabulary should be mastered.
Major versus minor arc, sector, and segment may be new to many students.
Use the vocabulary as a focus for the discussion of the properties of a circle. Key, and likely to
come up, are these:
A radius is a line segment with its endpoints at the center of the circle and a point on the
circle.
All radii of a circle have the same length.
A diameter is a chord that goes through the center of the circle.
A diameter has the length of two radii.
Also of importance is the fact that the words radius and diameter are used not only for the
segments but for the measurement (that is, length) of these segments as well. Students may recall
circumference and area formulas, but those do not get attention in this section.
Secants are not included and tangents to a circle are relegated to Learning Exercise 22.
Although these are nice to know, studying them beyond vocabulary takes time away from
other topics.
page xl
Activity 1 on inscribed angles gives an opportunity to explore the relationship between the size
of an inscribed angle and its intercepted arc. Learning Exercise 7 starts a justification, if you
wish to pursue it.
The constructions illustrated are the standard ones. You may know whether constructions are a
need to know or a nice to know in your locale. No justifications are given, but symmetry is
mentioned as a way to see that the results are reasonable.
A globe offers familiar great circles in the equator and the meridians. Students probably do not
know that the path along a great circle is the shortest path (on the sphere) between two points on
a sphere.
The descriptions given for a cylinder and cone are intended to be general, but virtually all of the
work in measurement will be with circular cylinders and circular cones. If it comes up, a flowerpot shape could result from cutting off the sharp end of a cone, with a plane parallel to the base
of the cone (a truncated cone).
This discussion topic is intended to bring in a cross-cultural element. You may have to be
enthusiastic about the topic since students often react with a this isnt going to be on the test
attitude. Mention that this is a topic that can become a good source for cross-disciplinary work in
elementary school. (Refer them to People Who Live in Round Houses, by C. Zaslavsky,
Arithmetic Teacher, September, 1989, vol. 37, pp. 18-21.)
The shapes of houses are often influenced by tradition but originally were influenced by factors
such as the kinds of materials available, the weather, and the style of life (for example, nomadic
versus static). A sphere encloses the greatest volume for a given amount of surface area, so the
rounded features of some of the primitive houses can be defended quite well mathematically!

Chapter 22 is a long chapter, and we usually (in a one-semester course devoted solely to
geometry and measurement) cover only the first section, valuing the later work with
measurement more highly for an elementary school teacher audience. Middle school teachers
should be exposed to more transformation geometry, ideally with Geometer's Sketchpad help.
Sections in this chapter are as follows.
22.1 Some Types of Rigid Motions. Rigid motion/isometry; translation, reflection, rotation
(visually); image; congruent figures. (Section 22.1 is relatively brief, to introduce
only the basic vocabulary for courses that must skip the rest of the chapter.)
22.2 Finding Images for Rigid Motions. Using tracing paper (and grids) to find images
(translation, reflection, rotation).
22.3 A Closer Look at Rigid Motions. Defining characteristics; given figure and image,
identify and describe motion.
22.4 Composition of Rigid Motions. Composition and glide-reflection introduced.
22.5 Transformations and Earlier Topics. Translation and glide-reflection symmetries;
reprise of earlier topics with transformation geometry focus.
page xli
22.6 Check Yourself

If you are not familiar with transformation geometry, here are some pieces of the big picture,
which includes much more than further practice with visualization, a part of the aim here. With
its emphasis on functions (transformations), transformation geometry is closer to the current
mathematical mainstream than is classical Euclidean geometry. The coverage here does not
include the fact that the isometries of the plane, with composition, give a non-Abelian group.
Three of the four standard types of 2D rigid motions (isometries) are introduced in this first
sectionreflections, rotations, and translations. The fourth and final type in most developments,
the glide-reflection, is introduced in 22.4.
The preliminary activity should be given as homework, with enough discussion so that students
understand that rotations and reflections of a 4-toothpick shape do not give new shapes. The
activity comes from an excellent compilation of lessons for the primary grades (Burns & Tank,
1988). Nonetheless, the activity involves enough visualization to make it worthwhile for college
students, and it gives a springboard for introducing technical terms. Notice that in checking,
comparing, or copying shapes, as from a chalkboard or overhead projector display of students
answers, one likely does some mental visualization and perhaps exercises some spatial memory.
For example, showing answers to the preliminary activity with an overhead transparency
forces students to hold a shape in memory, and perhaps mentally manipulate it, when
searching for the shape among their answers. Having answers, perhaps from a version of the
answers below or from several students on separate transparencies, allows a figure to be rotated
or flipped over (whereas figures on the board must be maneuvered mentally) and in a fairly
efficient manner. Students who still consider themselves poor visualizers may need
encouragement (Youll continue to get better) or advice on coping strategies (Study how the
toothpicks are put together). Having everyone number the shapes the same way allows some
quick communication.
1
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Burns and Tank describe follow-up activities such as the following. With a deck of the 16
shapes on, say, 3 x 5 cards and as a cooperation game or competition game, students are to make
a one-difference train, with a starting card; then each subsequent card must be obtainable from
the previous card by the movement of one toothpick. Children are often surprised when different
trains are possible. (Variations are to make a complete circle, with the caboose and engine also
page xlii
differing by one toothpick, or to make a two-difference train.) Each of these can give
potentially valuable extra experience at mental manipulation.
Some of the terms here may be familiar to students who have worked with 2D rigid motions or
symmetries before.
The definition for rigid motion is not, of course, very precise in using movement to define a
motion, but it avoids a side-trip into function considerations. If you are familiar with isometries,
you will recognize that the definition is redundant, since angle congruence can be proved from
length invariance with the common congruent-triangle apparatus.
Students who did not have any transformation geometry in precollege work may question its
relevance for their teaching careers. Mention that there is an increasing awareness that spatial
visualization activities should be an explicit part of the curriculum. The dynamic nature of
transformation geometry invites visualization.
As noted above, transformations, as a special case of functions, are also much closer to the
mathematical mainstream than a name this shape curriculum. In elementary text series you
may be able to find sample pages that introduce transformation geometry terms. Most curriculum
guides call for at least an exposure to translations, reflections, and rotations.
A note in the margin calls attention to the non-trivial nature of Learning Exercise 7. Shapes
from Four Triangles in the Auxiliary Materials could give a form of the problem more in
keeping with an outside assignment.
Activity 6 is the most involved of this type of problem (given figure and image, describe fully
the rigid motion). First of all, seeing that a rotation is involved is visually more difficult for most
people. If you have given attention to (clock) orientation, you can note that with a rotation both
figures have the same (clock) orientation, and here it does not look at all as though a translation
would give the image (joining what should be corresponding points will give nonparallel,
noncongruent segments). Once a rotation is considered, it looks reasonable, but finding the
center (and then the angle) involves the construction of perpendicular bisectors of two segments
joining corresponding points. If you did not assign Learning Exercise 12 in Section 21.1, you
might do so now. So it is also important to join two pairs of corresponding points (A-R, B-S, CT, D-U, E-P, F-Q). Here is a solution, using the perpendicular bisectors of segments DU and CT
(and not showing the construction lines).
A
C
E
D
Q
T
S
center of the rotation
page xliii

This section introduces the composition of rigid motions, and the fourth type of rigid motion, the
glide-reflection. The glide-reflection is psychologically awkward, because it is defined in terms
of two motions. Its value is that its addition completes a catalog of rigid motions that is adequate
to describe any composition of rigid motions. Although a rotation-reflection might be an
alternate way of getting a particular image, one of a reflection or a glide-reflection can be found
to give that image. Some elementary school mathematics textbooks do include glide-reflections
in their treatments of rigid motions.
In the earlier work, a rigid motion has been an operator that moves shapes. With composition,
a rigid motion becomes an operand. Some students find this change difficult.
The approach here is informal. You may want to examine more closely such points as the
composition of rigid motions being a rigid motion (since each of the rigid motions preserves
lengths, so will their composition), or to follow up some of the exercises about compositions to
arrive at such results as the predictability of the vector of the translation resulting from the
composition of two reflections in parallel lines. The exercises include several hints about further
theoretical results (for example, the composition of two reflections in intersecting lines is a
rotation with center at the intersection of the lines, and angle of size twice that of the angle made
by the intersecting lines), in case your taste and the time in the course allow their pursuit.
As with the earlier sections, you may choose to use MIRAs or software if you have either
available.
Discussion 4 could be lengthy (or optional). The answer to the question is Yes, but it cannot be
answered solely on the basis of the 3D transformations hinted at in the students earlier study of
3D symmetriesreflections in a plane, and rotations about an axisand their exposure to 3D
size changesenlargements and shrinks. However, the only missing 3D rigid motions are the
translation, and then the compositions of pairs of those three: rotation about axis, with translation
(= twist); reflection in plane, with translation (glide-reflection); and rotation about axis, with
reflection in plane (= rotatory reflection).
Only the 3D analogue of the 2D size change, along with the 3D rigid motions, is needed for
similarity. The 28-minute video, Similarity (from Project Mathematica) shows the 3D size
change; the video is too fast-paced for a first exposure but is serviceable as a summary.

These are the sections in Chapter 23:
23.1 Key Ideas of Measurement. Meaning of "measurement;" standard units--metric
system and prefixes; approximate nature of measurements; additivity.
23.2 Length and Angle Size. Key ideas of measurement applied to length and angle size;
perimeter and circumference; units for angle size; review of angle-sum formula for ngon; arc measurements.
23.3 Check Yourself
(Parts of Section 24.3, Issues for Learning: Measurement, apply to length.)
page xliv

As a lead-in homework exercise or an opening question, ask students to list several things that
are measured. Then ask them, What does it mean to measure something? (Collecting their
writing helps motivate the passive student, and reading them gives you an idea of how your
students are thinking.) The term quantity is given careful attention in Reasoning about
Numbers and Quantities. Briefly, a quantity is any characteristic that can be measured or
counted; the measurement or count, with the unit involved, is the value of the quantity. We try to
place an emphasis on thinking about the quantities and their relationships rather than the values
of the quantities and the calculations. Lord Kelvin (18241907), a physicist and engineer and for
whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named, once said, If you can measure that of which you
speak, and can express it by a number, you know something of your subject; but if you cannot
measure it, your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory.
How you handle Discussion 1 will depend on your students backgrounds with science classes or
with Part I.. If they have had earlier experience with the metric system or with the Part I work on
quantitative reasoning, then they should have some familiarity with metric units and you could
just continue on, either skipping or quickly reviewing the discussion questions.
For Discussion 1:
1. Standard units make for ease of communication, and are usually defined in such a fashion
as to be permanent and reproducible; using a random twig as a unit for measuring length
is certainly possible, but suffers on all those counts.
2. Units of different sizes allow one to choose an appropriate unit for the object being
measured. For example, measuring the weight of a shipment of coal in ounces, or the
height of a child in kilometers, would not be sensible, either because the resulting values
would be numerically awkward or, in the case of the coal, the choice of unit would imply
a precision of measurement that is not reasonable.
3. Non-standard units, like the twig for length measurement, allow the process of
measurement to be the focus, and involve contexts that are often familiar to children.
Some important points to bring out regarding the metric system:
Standard units are needed for ease of communication within and across cultures, as well as
across time, so that some ease of reproducibility is desirable.
The metric system, a decimal system, was born during the French Revolution; the French
even tried to decimalize time.
One question you might ask your students is, When have you used the metric system either
in or out of school?
You may need to sell the usefulness of the metric system to your students, as there is usually
resistance to anything unfamiliar. The Olympic games and car engine sizes, for example, are
familiar places in which your students have probably encountered metric units. Ford Motor Co.,
with all its multinational ties, was one of the first large companies to go metric. It is
interestingand informativethat in the U.S. the English units have been officially defined in
terms of metric units since 1893, first by one yard = 3600
3937 meter, and later (1959) by one yard =
0.9144 meter! Since 1988, the federal government has had a program to adopt metric units for all
of its contracts.
page xlv
The exercises neglect conversions that are unusual in practice, as in how many centimeters are
in 4 hectometers. Our preference is for a metric sense approach, in which the student has a
feel for the sizes of the units. Some instructors use a rule like Make a row of the prefixes,
starting with the largest and leaving a space for the basic unit. To convert, move the decimal
point as many places as you do with the prefixes, and in the same direction. We do not even
present such a rule, preferring the think metric approach and avoiding complicated
conversions.
The approximate nature of most actual measurements is an important point. (Counting, if
regarded as measuring, can be exact.) Unfortunately, measurements in school are often treated as
exact (at least implicitly). Point out the width of scale marks, or imagine magnifying the scale
marks and the end of the measured object, or mention hair thickness and compressibility in
measuring height, or cite the fact that because our vertebrae settle during the day, we are slightly
shorter in the evening than in the morning.
Illustrate with a drawing the different lengths that might all be reported as 21 inches, or the more
difficult 25.2 inches. Students do not seem as comfortable in dealing to the nearest tenth or
hundredth, for example, compared with dealing to the nearest whole.

Following are the section titles for Chapter 24. The ideas of area, surface area, and volume are
the focus, leaving formulas to Chapter 25.
24.1 Area and Surface Area. Meaning; units; areas of dot paper/geoboard figures; area
relationship for similar figures.
24.2 Volume. Meaning, capacity, SI units, direct counting of cubes, volume relationship
for similar figures.
24.3 Issues for Learning: Measurement. Selected research on children's understanding of
length, angle size, and area measurement.
24.4 Check Yourself
This section focuses on the concepts of area and surface area, and the key ideas as applied to
area. Hence, area formulas should continue to be downplayed (they will come up in Chapter 25).
In demonstrating the relationships among metric area units, a meter stick (or four) is handy, as
are a square centimeter and a square decimeter. Faces of base ten materials that you may have
are also possible sources for showing a square centimeter and a square decimeter because many
types are based on metric units. Four meter sticks can show a square meter, as can a piece of
cardboard cut from a large box, like a packing box for a large appliance. Geoboards are
arrangements of pegs, usually arranged in rows to give squares. Stretching a rubber band around
the pegs allows illustrating a variety of polygons.
The first discussion question in Discussion 1 may be difficult; many students only idea of area
is length times width (and their only idea of volume might be length times width times
height). In earlier sections students should have counted square regions or cubical regions, so
students may have the basic ideas but without the allied vocabulary of area and volume.
page xlvi
You may wish to assign the first discussion question as a homework exercise, so students have a
chance to give more than their off-the-top-of-head answers. The marginal discussion question is
often the basis for an elementary-school activity with area (and it is included as Learning
Exercise 4f in the section, if you want to postpone its discussion); students might start by finding
the area of their hands by tracing their hands on grid paper and later lying down on a large sheet
of paper (perhaps grid paper), tracing the outline and then counting squares, to estimate the area
of one side of their bodies.
When a unit like square inch or square centimeter comes up, ask students to show what the
phrase means.
In Discussion 2 each of the regions could theoretically be used. Regions with straight edges,
however, can be made to fit next to each other exactly and to many shapes in western
civilizations, so less approximation is needed. If the students have been exposed to tessellations,
you can point out that any shape that tessellates the plane would be quite usable, since the
estimation of any part units could be confined to the edges of the region being measured.
Regions are used to emphasize the attribute of area.
As noted, this chapter emphasizes the conceptual side of volume, rather than volume formulas,
which will come up in Chapter 25. It is useful for the students to have some hands-on
experiences with a cubic centimeter and a cubic decimeter, and to at least see a cubic meter
outlined and compared to a cubic centimeter and a cubic decimeter. Having 12 meter sticks, or a
commercial cubic meter set, enables a demonstration of the size of the unit, and relationships
among units, as in Discussion 5. (Notice that unusual units like cubic hectometers, cubic
millimeters, and so on, do not get attention.) The pieces in some place-value kits are based on
metric units, and you may have a supply of cubic centimeters available. If you have a waterproof
cubic decimeter container and a 1- or 2-liter bottle, seeing a demonstration that a liter and a cubic
decimeter are the same size is more convincing than is just eye-balling the two.
As noted in the margin after Discussion 7, the k3 ratio between the volumes of similar 3D shapes
seems not to be easy for students, so you may need to place some emphasis on it, and perhaps
give additional problems in class, a la Exercises 20(b) and 21.

Here are the sections in this chapter.
25.1 Circumference, Area, and Surface Area Formulas. Justifications for the usual
circumference and area formulas. There are many exercises, reflecting the richness of
the section. You will likely have to pick and choose the ones best suited for your class
and your aims (see Instructor Note 25.1D).
25.2 Volume Formulas. Prisms and cylinders (V = Bh), pyramids and cones ( V = 13 Bh ),
and sphere ( V = 43 ! r 3 ).
25.3 Check Yourself
page xlvii

The development of area formulas here follows a line common in elementary schoolcommon
there since it does not involve any algebraic proficiency: rectangle (and square), then
parallelogram, then triangle (and trapezoid), then circle. As you may know, a mathematically
cleaner sequence follows a rectangle, then right triangle, then general triangle, then other
quadrilaterals, and so on, order, and you may prefer that. Whatever order you follow, the
students should understand that the formulas can be justified, and they should feel responsible
for giving justifications.
For in-class work, you may wish to try an approach used by Simon & Blume (1994). Each group
of students is given a small rectangular (but not square) region and asked to find how many such
regions would be needed to cover their table (or desk or a chalkboard section), and to be
prepared to discuss their method. Possibly after concern about whether all the regions should be
oriented the same, groups usually decide to multiply the number of regions that fit along the
length and width of their (rectangular) table. The key post-activity questions are, Why did you
multiply those numbers together, Will this method always work, and Why does it work? Let
the class answer the questions, perhaps not until the next class session.
In the United States m x n is interpreted as telling how many are in m groups of n each. (This is
reversed in some countries.) Hence, the square regions can be counted by rows: m x n can tell
how many squares in all are in m rows, with n in each row. Both m and n can be determined by
measuring a length, since the unit squares have sides equal to 1 length unit.
Although students may come up with clever ways of cutting individual squares to find the areas
in the second and third examples, these methods may not support the desired A = lw. You may
have to intercede. As you know, almost uniform is the practice in advanced mathematics of
regarding rows as horizontal (as opposed to vertical). A partial row, like 12 of a row of 4 square
regions in the second rectangle, fits the part-of-an-amount interpretation of multiplication.
Hence, the total area is (3 x 4) + ( 12 x 4). Using the distributive property, this gives the total area
as (3 + 12 ) x 4, or 3 12 x 4, with 3 12 and 4 interpretable as the lengths of the two dimensions of the
rectangle. Similarly, in the last example, (2 x 2 12 ) + ( 14 x 2 12 ) = (2 + 14 ) x 2 12 = 2 14 x 2 12 .
This approach to the formula for the surface area of a sphere uses a result from the historically
significant figure, Archimedes (ca. 287-212 B.C.) Archimedes discovered that the surface area of
a sphere of radius r is two-thirds the (total) surface area of a circular cylinder with radius r and
height 2r. Thus, SA(sphere) = 23 (2! r 2 + 2! r " 2r) = 23 " 6! r 2 = 4! r 2 . Advantages of this
approach are that it gives some practice with finding the surface area of a special cylinder and
that it introduces an important mathematician; the disadvantage is that Archimedes' result is just
stated.
Surprisingly, this 23 relationship also holds true for the volumes of the sphere and cylinder. (See
Instructor Note 25.2C.) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes, January 16, 2008)
page xlviii
An alternative sequence makes good use of a volume-relationship kit to which you may have
access. It leads to a derivation that would occur after work with the volume of a sphere and again
involves the idea of limits, along with some algebra. First, experimentally relate the volume of a
sphere to that already established for a cylinder, as in Method 3 of Instructor Note 25.2C, and
use the resulting formula for the volume to make plausible the formula for the surface area. Here
are details. Some kits have a sphere, radius r, that fits tightly into a cylinder (so that the cylinder
has height 2r and a base with radius r); the sphere has a hole so that water can be put inside. The
water from a sphereful is poured into the cylinder, filling it 23 full. Hence, the volume of the
sphere is 23 that of the cylinder, or 23 r22r, which gives the usual 43 r3. Then to get the surface
area, imagine concentric spheres with radii r and r + h. The difference in the volumes of the two
spheres gives a thin layer (thickness h), so it is plausible that dividing the difference in volumes
by h, and letting h get arbitrarily small, will give the surface area. Some algebra, with the most
complicated being cubing r + h, gives the usual 4r2.
4
3
! (r + h)3 " 43 ! r 3 4 r 3 + 3r 2 h + 3rh 2 + h 3 " r 3 43 ! (r + h)3 " 43 ! r 3 4 r 3 + 3r 2 h + 3rh 2 + h 3 " r 3 4 3r 2 h + 3rh 2 + h 3

= 3!
= 3!
= 3!
h
h
h
h
h
= 43 ! (3r 2 + 3rh + h 2 ) " 4! r 2 as h goes to 0.
INSTRUCTOR NOTE 25.1E

You will likely have to pick and choose from these exercises. Some of them involve a
considerable amount of work, and some could be small-group or discussion exercises. Students
will need a ruler and square-dotted grid paper for some of the exercises. Usually the exercise
lists have not been organized in any particular order, partly so that students do not expect a later
numbered exercise to be more difficult that earlier numbered ones. But this section is so long
that the exercise list is quite long, and there has been a degree of organization, as follows:
#2-#7 deal with circumference or .
#8-#17 deal with areas of polygons.
#18-#24 involve areas of circular regions/sectors/spheres, and regions to be cut up.
#25-26 ask for surface areas of simple polyhedra.
#27-#28 are conceptual items (area under a curve, units for area).
#29-#30 involve areas of similar figures.
#31 has a new formula for the area of a kite.
#32 treats Picks formula, a way of finding areas of polygons with vertices at the dots on dot
paper. (We often skip it because students attach too much importance to it and use it
instead of the more fundamental surround with a rectangle approach.)
#33-#36 suggest alternative derivations of some area formulas.
#37 involves the surface area of a cylinder.
Some of the exercises for Section 25.2 involve area as well as volume, to help keep the ideas
distinct.
You may wish to ask what volume formulas your students already know. Again, the emphasis
here is on what the formulas tell one and on where the formulas come from. For some students
this may be their first encounter with anything besides V = lwh.
page xlix
Here is an overview of the work coming up with volume formulas. For prisms and cylinders, the
derivation of volume formulas is centered on layers. For pyramids and cones, it is centered on
extrapolation from an experiment with a special case in Three Coins in the Fountain, or (and
perhaps a demonstration, if you have suitable equipment). Thus, the main formulas are V = Bh
for prisms and cylinders and V = 13 Bh for pyramids and cones.
The formula for the volume of a sphere is given, but the argument may be too dense without
support from you (and a soccer ball or basketball, say). Alternative derivations are in Instructor
Note 25.2C.
Activity 3 requires shape I from the polyhedra kit. The group size should be three or more, since
three copies of shape I are needed to make the smallest prism possible (a cube). The V = 13 Bh
formula is revealed soon in the student notes, but be certain to make it explicit in a post-activity
discussion. Having groups of just three, along with the title of the activity, is something of a big
hint, although many think that two shape Is can be put together to make a prism. (Aside: Your
studentsand youmay be too young to recognize the activity title as the title song from an old
movie.)
There are commercial kits with a plastic pyramid and prism sized so that the pyramid has the
same area base and height as the prism. These allow either a water- or rice-pouring
demonstration that the volume of the pyramid is, plausibly, 13 that of the prism. Ask your
students to predict a relationship before such a demonstration; many will think the pyramid has
half the volume of the prism. If you have access to such a kit, it is a good substitute or
supplement to Activity 3. The commercial kits also have a cone and cylinder for the same type of
demonstration. A make-do cone and cylinder can be devised fairly easily from card stock, with
rice or beans used for pouring.
If your students are strong (perhaps planning to be middle school teachers), you may want to
give more careful or different arguments. Here are four ways that you can do so.
1. The derivation of the formula for the volume of a sphere given in the text could be
strengthened by also considering pyramids with the vertex at the center and height r, so that the
sphere is now surrounded by the pyramids. As the number of pyramids increases and all their
bases get smaller and smaller, the combined areas of the base of the pyramids grows ever closer
to the surface area of the sphere. Thus the volume of the sphere is between the sum of the
volumes of the pyramids inside the sphere and the sum of the volumes of those outside the
sphere. As the number of pyramids inside the sphere grows, the height of the inside pyramids
approaches r, and as the number of pyramids enclosing the sphere grows, the bases become ever
closer to the surface of the sphere, so the volume of the sphere is trapped between the two:
"
1
3
h(base of an inner pyramid) ! volume of sphere !
"
1
3
r(base of an outer pyramid) .
As the number of inner pyramids grows larger and larger, the common h approaches r and the
total of the bases of the inner pyramids approaches the surface area of the sphere,
" 13 (base of an inner pyramid) ! h = 13 h" (base of inner pyramid) # 13 ! r ! 4$ r 2 = 43 $ r 3 .
page l
As the number of outer pyramids with height r increases, the bases of the pyramids again
approach the surface area of the sphere,
1
3
(base of an outer pyramid) ! r "
1
3
! 4$ r 2 ! r = 43 $ r 3 .
So the volume of the sphere must be between 43 ! r 3 and 43 ! r 3 that is, the volume must be
4
3
!r3 .
2. Another way to derive the formula for the volume of a sphere again appeals to a result from
Archimedes. (See Instructor Note 25.1C.) Archimedes also discovered that the volume of a
sphere of radius r is two-thirds the volume of a circular cylinder with radius r and height 2r.
Thus, V (sphere) = 23 ! " r 2 ! 2r = 43 " r 3 . (Learning Exercise 11 gives other results known to
Archimedes and allegedly used on his gravestone.) The drawback is that the result from
Archimedes is not justified.
3. A (commercial) "volume-relationships kit" includes a transparent cylinder, cone, and sphere.
2
The bases of the cone and cylinder have radius r and area B = r The radius of the sphere is
also r. The height of the cone and of the cylinder is 2r. Water (or rice) can be poured from one
to the other to give experimental evidence for the V = 13 Bh for the cone, and V = 43 ! r 3 for the
sphere (from the experimental pouring that suggest that the volume of the sphere is 23 of the
V = Bh = 2! r 3 for the cylinder). (See Instructor Notes 25.1D and 25.2B.)

4. Finally, a common way of finding the formula for the volume of a sphere introduces
Cavalieris principle, a generalization of our layers arguments:
Suppose that two solids have equal altitudes and that all plane sections parallel to their
bases at equal distances from the bases are equal in area. Then the solids have the same
volume.
Notice that Cavalieris principle does not say that the plane sections must be congruent, as
pictured in Discussion 3: Layer by Layer (where plane sections can be visualized). Rather, the
plane section must simply have the same area.
To use Cavalieri's principle, we first consider a sphere with a cross-section (which of course is a
circle), with a radius of c. The area of this circle is ! c 2 . If the center of this circle is d units from
the center of the sphere, then a right triangle can be formed with c and d as sides and r as the
hypotenuse. Then c 2 = r 2 ! d 2 and the area of the circle is ! (r 2 " d 2 ) or ! r 2 " ! d 2 . This
expression is also the area of a new figure made up of a circle of radius r with a donut hole of
radius d, as in Figure 1.
d
r
r
The gray areas are equal.

Figure 1. Circular and donut regions with equal area.
page li
(NOTE: The drawings here will be replaced with professional drawings for the First Edition.)
To use Cavalieris principle, we must find another solid with a cross-section of this same area, that
is, an area of !(r 2 " d 2 ) or !r 2 " !d 2 as appears in the second part of Figure 1. Consider a
cylinder of radius r and height 2r with cones with height r and bases at the two ends of the cylinder
and intersecting in the middle of the cylinder (Figure 2). The cylinder has volume ! r 2 " 2r or
2! r 3 , and the cones together have volume 2( 13 ! r 2 " r) = 23 ! r 3 . The part of the cylinder outside the
cones must be 2! r 3 " 23 ! r 3 = 43 ! r 3 .
Figure 2. Twin cones

inside a circular cylinder
Figure 3. Cross-sections (outside cones, inside sphere) with
equal areas
Let this cylinder sit on the same plane as the sphere. Now consider a cross-section of this cylindercones shape but outside the cones, and with the cross-section on the same plane as a cross section
of the sphere, d units from the center of the sphere as in Figure 3. This new cross-section will also
be donut-shaped, with an outer circle of area ! r 2 and a cutout inner circle of area ! d 2 , giving an
area ! r 2 " ! d 2 , the same as that of the circular section of the sphere, for every value of d above or
below the point at which the cones meet (and less than r); see Figures 1 and 3. Thus, by Cavalieri's
principle, this cylinder with the cones cut out must have the same volume as the sphere. We know
that the cylinder with cones cut out is 43 ! r 3 , so the volume of the sphere must also be 43 ! r 3 .
(Although this third derivation will introduce Cavalieri's principle, visualizing the cross-sections
may be difficult.)
You will have to pick and choose from this exercise list, as with that for Section 25.1. Some of
the exercises involve a considerable amount of work, and some could be small-group or
discussion exercises. Usually the exercise lists have not been organized in any particular order,
partly so that students do not expect a later numbered exercise to be more difficult that earlier
numbered ones. But this section is so long that the exercise list is quite long, so there has been a
degree of organization, as follows:
#1 focuses on the reasoning for the volume formula for prism/cylinder.
#2, #3, #5-#7 focus on prisms and pyramids (V and SA).
#4, #8-#16 involve spheres and cylinders (V and SA).
#17 returns to polyhedra.
#18 returns to curved shapes to cut up (V and SA).
#19-#20 deal with cubes.
#21 involves the k2 and k3 relationships for areas and volumes (resp.) of similar shapes.
page lii
#22 develops alternate formulas for spheres and hemispheres.

#23 is an open-ended problem of design.
#24 connects some area/volume situations with algebra.
#25 introduces Fermi problems, which are good for estimating both measurements and
calculations.
Areas of curved surfaces, besides that of a sphere, get minimal attention, as an astute student
may observe. An example and a few exercises treat it as obvious that thinking about a net for,
say, a right circular cylinder or cone, suggests how to get the surface area. An exercise in the
next chapter goes from a net of a cone to its volume. Here are the usual formulas in case a
student asks whether they exist, although we view these formulas as only nice to know but not
need to know.
SA(circular cylinder) = 2r2 + (2r)h = 2r(r + h), where r is the radius of the base and h the
height, with the second term coming from the rectangle in the net.
SA(right circular cone) = r2 + rs = r(r + s), where r is the radius of the base and s is the slant
height, the distance from the vertex to any point on the circle at the base.

Here are the sections in this chapter.
26.1 The Pythagorean Theorem. Justification via areas. The converse. Applications.
Pythagorean triples are mentioned in the Learning Exercises.
26.2 Some Other Kinds of Measurements. A sample of nongeometric quantities and units.
Caution when adding rates.
26.3 Check Yourself
The Pythagorean theorem is important in its own right, of course, but it also has a rich history,
with only a few references given here. Was Pythagoras Chinese? (Swetz, 1977) and The
Pythagorean Proposition (Loomis, 1968) are books dealing with the theorem.
The exercises offer good opportunities for reviewing the area and volume formulas. As noted in
the margin, Learning Exercise17 can lead to an attractive but incorrect pattern.
You will recognize the familiar Pythagorean triples in the examples and exercises: 3-4-5 and 512-13 or their multiples (for example, 0.6, 0.8, 1) in particular. (Learning Exercise 13(e) aims
toward knowing that their multiples are also Pythagorean triples.) Here are a few other
Pythagorean triples, although they involve a bit more calculation if you do not allow calculators:
7-24-25
20-21-29
8-15-17
28-45-53
12-35-37
36-77-85
16-63-65
48-55-73
If x and y are odd positive integers with x > y, then the a, b, and c values given as follows form a
Pythagorean triple:
24-25 triple.
a = xy, b =
x 2 ! y2
2
, and c =
x 2 + y2
2
. For example, x = 7 and y = 1 give the 7-
page liii

Other units identified as base units in SI are the ampere (for electrical current), the degree Kelvin
(for temperature; the size of degree Kelvin = the size of degree Celsius although the two scales
have different zero points), the mole (for a standard amount of a given chemical substance), and
the candela (for luminous intensity). Derived units are then defined in terms of those, even
though the derived unit may have some special namefor example, the unit of force is called
the newton (N) but defined as m.kg/s2. These units are not brought up in the text because of their
technical natures, but you may choose to allude to them so that students do not think SI covers
only units they have encountered. Still other unitsfor example, the hour, the degree for angle
sizeare allowed because of their wide, uniform use (they are given precise definitions in SI
terms1 h = 3600 s, for example). An earlier exercise referred to some web sites that currently
exist (http://lamar.ColoState.edu/~hillger/ and http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/contents.html, from
http://nist.gov); they should maintain the last word on the metric system, which is reviewed
periodically by an international body.
Mass and weight are technically different, although everyday usage treats them as the same. A
body has a mass that is the same no matter where the body goes; weight depends on the
gravitational pull on the body so the weight of a body can differ from place to place. A person
weighs less on the moon than on Earth, but her/his mass will be the same in both locations.
The terms ratio and rate do not have universally agreed-upon meanings. We use ratio to refer to a
multiplicative comparison for one static situation, in contrast to a rate, the multiplicative
comparison that is the same for all of several variations of the situation with different values for
the quantities being compared. Hence, each of the parts from Discussion 4 might be expressing a
ratio, perhaps in simplified form, for a single situation: I went 130 miles in 2 hours; what was
my average speed? But each part might also involve a rate, which can be applied to any
measure of the quantity after the per: I drove a long time at a steady speed of 65 miles per
hour. Some rates, as in parts (b) (per child) and (d) (numbers of questionnaires) of the first
discussion, can involve counts.
page liv
General References
Ascher, M. (1991). Ethnomathematics: A multicultural view of mathematical ideas. Pacific
Grove, CA: Brooks-Cole.
Bell, E. T. (1937). Men of mathematics. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Beckmann, P. (1971). A history of pi (3rd ed). New York: St. Martins.
Burns, M., & Tank, B. (1988). A collection of math lessons: From grades 1 through 3. Math
Solutions.
Campbell, P. F. (1983). Cardboard, rubber bands, and polyhedron models. Arithmetic
Teacher, 31(2), 4851.
Fuys, D. J., & Liebov, A. K. (1997). Concept learning in geometry. Teaching Children
Mathematics, 3(5), 248251.
Golomb, S. W. (1965). Polyominoes. New York: Scribner.
Klein, H. A. (1974). The world of measurements. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Lakatos, I. (1976). Proofs and refutations: The logic of mathematical discovery. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Loomis, E. S (1968). The Pythagorean proposition. Reston, VA: National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1994). Measurement in the middle grades.
Reston, VA: Author.
Simon, M. A., & Blume, G. W. (1994). Mathematical modeling as a component of
understanding ratio-as-measure: a study of prospective elementary teachers. Journal of
Mathematical Behavior, 13(2), 183197.
Swetz, F. J., & Kao, T. I. (1977). Was Pythagoras Chinese? University Park, PA: The
Pennsylvania State University Press.
Zaslavsky, C. (1989). People who live in round houses. Arithmetic Teacher, 37(1), 1821.
page lv
Shapes and Measurement
Introduction (Instructor's Version)
page lvi

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Instructor Overview of Part III:

Reasoning about Shapes and Measurement

(Direct) measurement of a characteristic of an object involves matching the object with a

Instructor Overview of Part III

Instructor Overview of Part III

Instructor Overview of Part III

Instructor Overview of Part III

Instructor Overview of Part III

Instructor Notes for Chapter 16

Instructor Notes by Section

oblique regular others

Instructor Notes by Section

Instructor Notes for Chapter 17

Instructor Notes by Section

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 17.2A

Instructor Notes for Chapter 18

Instructor Notes for Chapter 19

Instructor Notes for Chapter 20

Instructor Notes by Section

Instructor Notes by Section

Instructor Notes by Section

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 20.2A

Instructor Notes for Chapter 21

Instructor Notes by Section

Instructor Notes for Chapter 22

22.6 Check Yourself

Instructor Notes by Section

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 22.4A

Instructor Notes for Chapter 23

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 23.1A

Instructor Notes for Chapter 24

Instructor Notes by Section

Instructor Notes for Chapter 25

Instructor Notes by Section

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 25.1A

Instructor Notes by Section

! (r + h)3 " 43 ! r 3 4 r 3 + 3r 2 h + 3rh 2 + h 3 " r 3 43 ! (r + h)3 " 43 ! r 3 4 r 3 + 3r 2 h + 3rh 2 + h 3 " r 3 4 3r 2 h + 3rh 2 + h 3

= 43 ! (3r 2 + 3rh + h 2 ) " 4! r 2 as h goes to 0.

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 25.1E

h(base of an inner pyramid) ! volume of sphere !

r(base of an outer pyramid) .

(base of an outer pyramid) ! r "

V = Bh = 2! r 3 for the cylinder). (See Instructor Notes 25.1D and 25.2B.)

The gray areas are equal.

Figure 2. Twin cones

Instructor Notes by Section

#22 develops alternate formulas for spheres and hemispheres.

Instructor Notes for Chapter 26

. For example, x = 7 and y = 1 give the 7-

Instructor Notes by Section

INSTRUCTOR NOTE 26.2A

Instructor Notes by Section

Instructor Notes by Section

Shapes and Measurement

Introduction (Instructor's Version)

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