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Year 7 Geometry Activity Booklet

Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs

Equipment Required: sharp pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, compass,

ruler, protractor

Each piece of your work that you hand in to your teacher should be labelled with
q The activity number and title (e.g. Activity 2 Substantial Level)
q A title

Tasks
1. Using a Pair of Compasses to Create Circles
and Arcs

2. Constructing Regular Polygons Inside Circles

3. Constructing Triangles and Quadrilaterals

4. Constructing and Bisecting Angles and Sides

5. Creating an appealing design

Things You Should Know: A polygon is a shape with straight sides. Some
examples of polygons are rectangles, triangles, octagons and the shapes below:

Pentagon Hexagon

A regular polygon is a polygon in which all sides are the same length and all
internal angles are the same size. Some examples are provided below:

Regular pentagon Regular hexagon

Maths/topics-lessons-etc./Yr 7/Space & Geometry/Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs Activity Booklet
Activity One: Using the Compass to Create Circles and Arcs

SATISFACTORY LEVEL
(i) Construct a circle with radius 6 cm. Ensure your pencil is sharp before
you begin. Make sure that it is perfectly circular if it isnt, rub it out
and start again. If done properly, you shouldnt be able to tell where
you started or finished drawing the circle.
(ii) Mark the centre of the circle with a big dot and label it using the letter
O:

(iii) (a) Draw a diameter of the circle. Measure its length. Record this
length on your diagram.

Maths/topics-lessons-etc./Yr 7/Space & Geometry/Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs Activity Booklet
 (iii) (b) Draw and label the following parts of the circle: arc, sector, minor
segment, radius. Lightly shade the sector and the minor segment using
your lead pencil.

(iv) On a separate diagram on the same page, use your compass to draw an
arc PQ which is approximately 5 cm long, with a radius of 10 cm. Label
the arc PQ. (There is no need to draw the whole
circle just the 5 cm arc).

(v) Match these diagrams with the descriptions below.

SUBSTANTIAL LEVEL
Construct a circle with diameter 14 cm. Make sure that it is perfectly circular if it isnt,
rub it out and start again. Draw and label the following parts of the circle: chord,
diameter, tangent.

HIGH LEVEL
Create two concentric circles where the radius of the inner circle is 4 cm and the radius of
the outer circle is 7 cm. [Concentric circles are two or more circles with the same centre.]

Using your pencil, lightly shade the annulus (the area between these two circles). Label
the annulus.

Maths/topics-lessons-etc./Yr 7/Space & Geometry/Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs Activity Booklet
Activity Two: Constructing Regular Polygons Inside Circles

SATISFACTORY LEVEL - Constructing a Regular Hexagon

(a) Draw a circle with radius 6 cm. Without changing
your compass setting, place the point of the
compass anywhere on the circumference and then
draw a small arc across the circumference

(b) Next, place the point of the compass on the point

where the arc you have just drawn crosses the
circumference. Draw another arc like you did before.

(c) Repeat these steps to mark six arcs around the circle
with your compass set at the same radius. If you do
this correctly, you should end up with six arcs
equally spaced around the circumference. If they are
NOT equally spaced, start again.

(d) Where these arcs cross the circumference, join the six points to form a regular hexagon.

(e) Measure the length of each side of the hexagon. Record these measurements on your
diagram.

(f) Measure the six (obtuse) angles formed by the sides of the hexagon. Record these
measurements on your diagram.

SUBSTANTIAL LEVEL Creating an Equilateral Triangle

Use the method above to mark six arcs around a circle of radius 5.5 cm. Join every
second point to create an equilateral triangle.

HIGH LEVEL - Constructing a Pentagram

(a) Draw a circle, centre O, radius 6 cm.

(b) Mark A horizontally from O, on the circumference. O A

(c) With a protractor make BOA equal to 72

B
degrees.

O A
(d) Set your compass to the length AB, then mark
three arcs around the circumference from B.
Label these C, D and E. B
C
(e) Join AC, CE, EB, BD, DA.
A
(f) Use your protractor to measure the size of angle
ACE and BDA. Write the answers on your D
diagram.
E

(g) Find out which ancient secret society used the pentagram as their symbol.

Maths/topics-lessons-etc./Yr 7/Space & Geometry/Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs Activity Booklet
Activity 3: Constructing Triangles and Quadrilaterals
SATISFACTORY LEVEL - Constructing a Triangle
(a) Use your ruler to draw a straight line that is 8 cm long. Label its ends A and B.
(b) Use your protractor to create a 50 degree angle at A
(c) Draw a ray AR such that BAR is 50 degrees. Make the ray at least 12 cm long
(d) Set your compass at a length of 9 cm. Place the point of the compass at B. Draw an
arc that crosses the ray AR. Label this intersection as point C. It should be exactly 9
cm from point B.
(e) Use what you have drawn to create a triangle ABC where
AB = 8cm,CAB =50, BC = 9cm .
(f) Write the measurements of all three sides of the triangle on your diagram.
(g) Use your protractor to measure all interior angles of the triangle. Write these
measurements on the diagram
(h) What type of triangle is triangle ABC: equilateral, isosceles or scalene? Write your
answer and also a reason.
(i) In your own words, write down a definition of equilateral triangle, isosceles triangle,
scalene triangle.

SUBSTANTIAL LEVEL - Constructing a Parallelogram

a) Construct a parallelogram with side lengths 10 cm and 6 cm and with angles
70 and 110 .
b) Label the parallelogram ABCD.
c) Write in the measurements of all side lengths and angles.
(b) Draw the two diagonals on your parallelogram and measure their lengths. Are they
the same?
(c) Draw the perpendicular height of the parallelogram. Measure its length.

HIGH LEVEL - Constructing a Rhombus

(a) Construct a rhombus ABCD with side lengths 8.5 cm and with angles
50 and 130 . Write in the measurements of all side lengths and angles. Label the
vertices of the rhombus.
(b) Measure the length of each diagonal AC and BD. Include these measurements
on your diagram.
(c) Measure the angle formed when the diagonals cross. Include these
measurements on your diagram also
(d) Does the shorter diagonal cut the longer diagonal into two equal parts? Check.
(e) Is this also true for the other diagonal?

EXCELLENT LEVEL Constructing a Cyclic Quadrilateral

(a) Construct a circle of radius 5.5 cm
(b) Mark 4 points anywhere on the circumference of the circle. Try to place them so
that they are NOT evenly spaced. Label these points A, B, C and D.
(c) Create s quadrilateral ABCD by joining these four points. Each vertex of the
quadrilateral should be on the circumference
(d) Use your protractor to measure all four interior angles of the quadrilateral. Write
these measurements onto your diagram
(e) Add the two opposite angles. What is their sum?
(f) Repeat the above procedure for a different cyclic quadrilateral PQRS of diameter
9.6 cm. Does the same thing occur for the pairs of the opposite angles?

Maths/topics-lessons-etc./Yr 7/Space & Geometry/Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs Activity Booklet
Activity 4: Constructing and Bisecting Angles and Sides
SATISFACTORY LEVEL Constructing a Triangle Given Three Side Measurements
Use the website mathopenreference www.mathopenref.com/consttrianglesss.html and
watch the instructions on how to construct a triangle
Construct the triangle having sides of length AB = 10 cm, BC = 7 cm, AC = 8 cm using
the method shown.

SUBSTANTIAL LEVEL Constructing an Equilateral Triangle

Construct an equilateral triangle with side lengths 6 cm

HIGH LEVEL Bisecting the Angles of a Triangle

(a) Using the triangle provided on page 8 of this booklet, follow the instructions
in the website www.mathopenref.com/constbisectangle.html to bisect each
angle of the triangle.

(b) The bisectors should all meet at a point inside the triangle called the
incentre. Use the incentre to draw the incircle, the circle which just touches
the three sides of the triangle.

EXCELLENT LEVEL Constructing a Circumcircle Around a Triangle

(a) Draw a triangle that is about half a page in size in the middle of a fresh page in
your book. Bisect each side of the triangle and draw the perpendicular bisectors.
(b) These three bisectors should all meet at a point inside the triangle called the
circumcentre
(c) The distance from the circumcentre to each of the three vertices of the triangle
should be the same. Set your compass to this length and then draw a circle
whose circumference passes through these three vertices. This circle is called the
circumcircle for this triangle.
(d) Does this happen for all triangles? Investigate by repeating this activity after
constructing a triangle with sides 4.5 cm, 5.5 cm and 8 cm..

Activity 5: Creating an Appealing Design

Use your imagination and the skills that you have learnt to use your compass to create an
appealing design. If you need some ideas, ask your teacher. Make sure that your design is
large, precise, colourful, visually appealing and makes use of your compass. See page 7 of
this booklet for some ideas.
Do not colour your design using textas, as they detract from the accuracy of your design.
Use coloured pencils only.

Maths/topics-lessons-etc./Yr 7/Space & Geometry/Using the Compass to Construct Circles and Arcs Activity Booklet