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Perimeter and area

What is perimeter?

• The perimeter is the distance all the way around the outside of a 2D shape.

• To work out the perimeter, add up the lengths of all the sides.
  The perimeter of this shape is 5 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 30 cm:

What is area?

• The area of a 2D shape is the amount of surface it covers.

• The units for area are cm² (square centimetres), m² (square metres) or km² (square kilometres).

• To work out the area of a rectangle, multiply its length (the longer side) by its width (the shorter side):
  area = length × width

• The area of this rectangle is 6 x 4 = 24 cm²: