Perimeter & Circumference at a Glance

The perimeter of a shape is the distance around the outside of the figure. It's pretty simple; just add up the lengths of each side.

Perimeter is often used to find the measurements needed to put borders around things: pictures, gardens, rooms, and buildings.

Let's see some examples:

1. What is the perimeter of a square with side lengths of 5 cm?	Start by drawing a picture: If we add up the distance around the outside of the figure we get:
2. Find the perimeter of this object (all angles are 90°):	Wait, some sides are missing. No problem, we can fill those by adding together or subtracting the opposite sides. Now find the sum of all sides:
3. A rectangular backyard (30 ft by 25 ft) needs to be fenced. However, one side (the longer side) of the yard is next to the house. If fencing is about $25/foot, how much will the fence cost?	Draw a picture! Since 30 ft of the perimeter is bordered by the house, we only need: of fencing. Each foot of fencing costs $25. So the total cost is:

Circumference: the Perimeter of a Circle

Circumference = diameter × π = 2 × r × π= 2πr = dπ

One neat thing about circles is that all circles are similar. The ratio of any circle's circumference/diameter is equal to one very extraordinary number, π (or "pi").

It doesn't matter the size of the circle, this ratio will always equal π. π equals roughly 3.14159 and is often rounded to 3.14.

Don't believe it? Take a piece of string and wrap it around the circular base of a can, then use a ruler to measure that distance. Carefully measure the distance across the center of this circle (the diameter), then divide the first measurement by the second. You probably won't get exactly π, but you will be close.

For each example we'll give the answer two ways, in terms of π and using 3.14 to approximate pi.