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Grade6 1 5 Lesson Student Task Statements

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13 views6 pages

Grade6 1 5 Lesson Student Task Statements

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PRIYA .V
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Lesson 5: Bases and Heights of Parallelograms

Let’s investigate the area of parallelograms some more.

5.1: A Parallelogram and Its Rectangles


Elena and Tyler were finding the area of this parallelogram:

Here is how Elena did it:

Here is how Tyler did it:

How are the two strategies for finding the area of a parallelogram the same? How they are
different?

Grade 6 Unit 1
CC BY Open Up Resources. Adaptations CC BY IM. 1
Lesson 5
5.2: The Right Height?
Study the examples and non-examples of bases and heights of parallelograms.

• Examples: The dashed segments in


these drawings represent the
corresponding height for the given
base.

• Non-examples: The dashed segments in


these drawings do not represent the
corresponding height for the given
base.

1. Select all the statements that are true about bases and heights in a parallelogram.

a. Only a horizontal side of a parallelogram can be a base.

b. Any side of a parallelogram can be a base.

c. A height can be drawn at any angle to the side chosen as the base.

d. A base and its corresponding height must be perpendicular to each other.

e. A height can only be drawn inside a parallelogram.

f. A height can be drawn outside of the parallelogram, as long as it is drawn at a


90-degree angle to the base.

g. A base cannot be extended to meet a height.

Grade 6 Unit 1
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Lesson 5
2. Five students labeled a base and a corresponding height for each of these
parallelograms. Are all drawings correctly labeled? Explain how you know.

Grade 6 Unit 1
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Lesson 5
5.3: Finding the Formula for Area of Parallelograms
For each parallelogram:

• Identify a base and a corresponding height, and record their lengths in the table.
• Find the area of the parallelogram and record it in the last column of the table.

parallelogram base (units) height (units) area (sq units)

any parallelogram

In the last row, write an expression for the area of any parallelogram, using and .

Are you ready for more?


1. What happens to the area of a parallelogram if the height doubles but the base is
unchanged? If the height triples? If the height is 100 times the original?

2. What happens to the area if both the base and the height double? Both triple? Both
are 100 times their original lengths?

Grade 6 Unit 1
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Lesson 5
Lesson 5 Summary
• We can choose any of the four sides of a parallelogram as the base. Both the side
(the segment) and its length (the measurement) are called the base.

• If we draw any perpendicular segment from a point on the base to the opposite side
of the parallelogram, that segment will always have the same length. We call that
value the height. There are infinitely many segments that can represent the height!

Here are two copies of the same parallelogram. On the left, the side that is the base is 6
units long. Its corresponding height is 4 units. On the right, the side that is the base is 5
units long. Its corresponding height is 4.8 units. For both, three different segments are
shown to represent the height. We could draw in many more!

No matter which side is chosen as the base, the area of the parallelogram is the product of
that base and its corresponding height. We can check this:

and

We can see why this is true by decomposing and rearranging the parallelograms into
rectangles.

Grade 6 Unit 1
CC BY Open Up Resources. Adaptations CC BY IM. 5
Lesson 5
Notice that the side lengths of each rectangle are the base and height of the
parallelogram. Even though the two rectangles have different side lengths, the products of
the side lengths are equal, so they have the same area! And both rectangles have the same
area as the parallelogram.

We often use letters to stand for numbers. If is base of a parallelogram (in units), and is
the corresponding height (in units), then the area of the parallelogram (in square units) is
the product of these two numbers.

Notice that we write the multiplication symbol with a small dot instead of a symbol. This
is so that we don’t get confused about whether means multiply, or whether the letter
is standing in for a number.

In high school, you will be able to prove that a perpendicular segment from a point on one
side of a parallelogram to the opposite side will always have the same length.

You can see this most easily when you draw a parallelogram on graph paper. For now, we
will just use this as a fact.

Grade 6 Unit 1
CC BY Open Up Resources. Adaptations CC BY IM. 6
Lesson 5

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