| 6 | Plane Polygons |
So far, this book has dealt with counting and calculation in one dimension. Now you will learn how math can help to relate different measures and dimensions by working with plane polygons: flat objects with straight sides.
LENGTH TIMES LENGTH IS AREA
Suppose someone asked you to multiply 15 oranges by 23 pears (Fig. 6-1). What would you do? You can multiply 15 by 23 and get 345—but of what? Not oranges! Not pears! You can do it if you call them all “fruit,” but that changes the context of the problem. (In science and engineering, units are formed by multiplying different quantities together, such as feet and pounds to get foot-pounds. But let’s not worry about that yet.)
Figure 6-1
Suppose we multiply 15 oranges by 23 ...
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