Optimizing!

In grade 9 We explored shapes with a perimeter of 20 popsicle sticks.  Some thought outside the box…

And others were more constrained to the box….this group had lots of boxes!

This model was easy to use to show the area.  The first one was less straightforward.

Some groups could show many options!

We tabulated the dimensions of all the possible rectangles using desmos, and used our words to describe the trends.

We also graphed the area of the rectangle, and used length as our independent variable.  It was a different looking graph for sure!  We used our words again to describe it.

We even looked at removing the constraint of having a quadrilateral….and tried to optimize the area again.

We made some octagons, and tried circles too!

Did you know there’s an octagon calculator online?
Good work today grade 9s!