Primary 4 · Measurement & Geometry
P4 rectangles and squares
In P4, your child learns the properties of rectangles and squares: four right angles, opposite sides equal, and in a square all four sides equal. They use these to find unknown sides and angles, and to draw both shapes on a square grid.
- Taught in
- Term 2
- Syllabus
- 2 skills
- Usual slip
- Divides by 4
What your child learns in P4 rectangles and squares
Two skills, each with what it looks like on a worksheet.
See the syllabus wording
- properties of rectangle and square, excluding diagonal properties
- drawing rectangles and squares
The properties
A rectangle has four right angles, and its opposite sides are equal and parallel. A square has all of that and all four sides equal, so a square is a special rectangle. These facts find unknown sides and angles.
Drawing them on a grid
Your child completes a rectangle or a square on a square grid from one or two sides already drawn. Each corner turns a right angle, and opposite sides are drawn the same length, counted in squares.
Key facts and formulas
- RectangleFour right angles. Opposite sides are equal and parallel.
- SquareFour right angles. All four sides are equal, and opposite sides are parallel.
- An unknown angleEvery corner is 90°.∠y →
- Drawing on a gridCount the squares: opposite sides the same length, every corner a right angle.
Words to know
- Opposite sides
- Sides facing each other across the shape. In a rectangle they are equal.
- Right angle
- A square corner. Every corner of a rectangle and a square is a right angle.
- Length
- The longer side of a rectangle.
- Breadth
- The shorter side of a rectangle, the word schools use for it.
- Square
- A rectangle with all four sides equal.
The sentence that costs the mark
A rectangle has a perimeter of 30 cm. Its longer side is 9 cm. How long is its shorter side?
What the working usually does
one share of4 equal sides=7.5 cm
Splits 30 cm four equal ways. Tidy and precise looking, and true only for a square, where all four sides match.
What the question asked
one share ofthe other pair=6 cm
The two 9 cm sides take 18 cm. The shorter pair shares what is left, 12 cm, so each is 6 cm.
Both columns are one clean division of the same 30 cm, so nothing looks careless. The slip is in the setup: a rectangle's sides match in opposite pairs, not all four. Dividing by 4 answers a question about a square.
The same P4 rectangles and squares question, worked properly
Lah works through it the way she does every question in StudyLah: one step at a time, marking the picture as she goes.
A rectangular field has a breadth of 7 m. If its perimeter is 40 m, what is its length?
- In a rectangle, opposite sides are equal. So the perimeter is two breadths and two lengths, not four equal sides.
- The two breadths are 7 m each: 40 − 7 − 7 = 26 m.
- The two lengths share 26 m, so one length is 26 ÷ 2 = 13 m.
- Stopping at 26 m is the usual slip. That is both lengths together, twice the answer.
- So the length of the field is 13 m.
Every question in StudyLah comes with a walkthrough like this one.
Try it freeTwo quick P4 rectangles and squares questions
Try them together, then tap to check.
Question 1
The perimeter of a square is 48 m. What is the length of one side of the square?
Show answer
Answer12 m. All four sides of a square are equal, so 48 ÷ 4 = 12. For a square, dividing by 4 is right.
Question 2
ABCD is a rectangle. Find .
Show answer
Answer62°. Every corner of a rectangle is a right angle, so ∠ABM = 90° − 28° = 62°.
Helping at home
How to tell it has clicked
Before any working, ask your child to point at the sides that must be the same. A child who taps the two long sides, then the two short ones, has the property. A child who circles the whole shape is about to divide by 4.
A second check: "is a square a rectangle?" Yes, a special one. A child who can say why has the properties, not just the names.
Try this tonight
Any rectangle in the house works: a phone, a book, the table. "Which sides are the same?" Point, no measuring needed. It takes thirty seconds.
When perimeter homework comes home, ask one question: "could you divide by 4 here? What shape would that make it?"
Before and after P4 rectangles and squares
Builds on
Primary 3 Perpendicular and Parallel LinesSpots and draws parallel and perpendicular lines
Builds on
Primary 3 Area and PerimeterMeasures around a shape and inside it
You are here
Primary 4 Rectangles and Squares
Knows which sides and corners must match
Leads to
Primary 4 Area and PerimeterSplits for area, traces for perimeter
Leads to
Primary 5 Parallelogram, Rhombus and TrapeziumFinds angles from parallel and equal sides
More in Primary 4
Struggling with the working rather than the shape itself? How to help your child with problem sums
See how your child is doing on this topic
StudyLah marks each step separately, so you can see whether it was the setup or the arithmetic that cost the mark.