Using Excel to Teach Area and Perimeter

Using Excel to Teach Area and Perimeter

·  Click on the start button and arrow up to programs and then select Microsoft Excel.

·  The cursor is in the cell A1. Begin typing the title Area and Perimeter then press the enter key.

·  Automatically your cursor will move to cell A2, type your name here and then press enter again.

·  Press the Enter key 3 times to move your cursor to cell A5 and type the word Length.

·  Press the tab key to move to cell B5 and type the word Width.

·  Tell the students that the tab key moves the cursor one cell to the right and the Enter key moves cursor down one cell at a time.

·  Press Tab again and type the word Perimeter in cell C5.

·  Press Tab to move to cell D5 and type the word Area.

·  To find the perimeter of a rectangle you must enter the formula in cell C6. Move your cursor to cell C6 and type the = sign and the number 2 followed by an asterisk which is the symbol for multiplication. Use the left parenthesis and then type the cell and number that corresponds with the length of your rectangle. The cell directly below the word Length is A6. Type A6 after the parenthesis followed by a + sign and type B6 which represents the width. Close with a right parenthesis. Press Enter. It should look like this: =2*(A6+B6)

·  There should be no spaces in the formula. When you move the cursor to the next cell the formula disappears and a 0 will represent the perimeter when you input length and width. Notice the formula is still in the formula bar at the top of your spreadsheet.

·  Move cursor to the cell D6. Now you will enter the formula for area. Type the = and A6 times B6. It should look like this: =A6*B6

·  Now we will input a length and width to show the area and perimeter. Place your cursor in cell A6 and type the number 5 and then press tab to enter the width of 3. Press enter and see if the perimeter shows the number 16 in cell C6. The number in cell D6 should have the area 15.

·  To calculate more examples of Area and Perimeter you can copy the formula in the C and D columns. Place the cursor and click in cell C6, this will highlight the cell and you will see a small black square in the lower right hand corner of that cell. Take your mouse to the black square in the lower right hand corner and your cursor change to a single line plus sign. Click once and hold down your mouse key and drag the cursor down 9 more cells to C15 and let go of the mouse button. Now click on any of the cells in the C column to see the formula change in the formula bar.

·  Now we will copy the formula for Area the same way. Highlight the cell D6 and put cursor on the black square and drag again to cell D15. You are ready to find the area and perimeter of any square or rectangle.

·  Begin in cell A7 by inputting new lengths and widths for any given square or rectangle. The Area and Perimeter will automatically be calculated for you because you have a formula already there.