Mathematics · Professor Pi

Every card in Geometry and measures, Year 9: circles and cylinders

The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.

1 KS3-MATH-GEO-0042

The inside edge of a running track is made of two straight sections, each 100 m long, joined by two semicircular ends, each with a diameter of 60 m. Using π = 3.14, how long is one lap of the inside edge?

388.4 m

HintPut the two curved ends together and see what familiar shape they make.

WhyThe two semicircles make one full circle of diameter 60 m, with circumference 3.14 × 60 = 188.4 m. Adding the two straights gives 188.4 + 200. Splitting a shape into parts you know is the first step with any compound shape.

2 KS3-MATH-GEO-0043

A window is a rectangle 2 m wide and 3 m tall, with a semicircle of diameter 2 m sitting exactly on its top edge. Using π = 3.14, what is the area of the whole window?

7.57 m²

HintFind the two parts separately, and halve the width before you use it in the curved part.

WhyThe rectangle is 2 × 3 = 6 m². The semicircle has radius 1 m, so its area is 3.14 × 1² ÷ 2 = 1.57 m². The whole window is the two added together.

3 KS3-MATH-GEO-0044

A shape is made by joining a semicircle of diameter 10 cm to one side of a square of side 10 cm, so that the diameter lies exactly along that side. Using π = 3.14, what is the perimeter of the whole shape?

45.7 cm

HintTrace round the outside with a finger and note which edges you actually touch.

WhyThe outline is three sides of the square, 30 cm, plus the curved edge, half of 3.14 × 10 = 15.7 cm. The fourth side of the square is where the two parts join, so it lies inside the shape.

4 KS3-MATH-GEO-0045

A quarter-circle has a radius of 10 cm. Using π = 3.14, what is its area?

78.5 cm²

HintWork out the full circle first, then take the fraction of it that the name tells you.

WhyA full circle of radius 10 cm has area 3.14 × 10² = 314 cm². A quarter-circle is one of four equal slices of it, so its area is 314 ÷ 4.

5 KS3-MATH-GEO-0046

A circle of radius 10 cm is cut out of a square piece of card with sides of 20 cm. Using π = 3.14, what area of card is left?

86 cm²

HintFind each of the two areas, then decide whether the round one is being put in or taken out.

WhyThe square is 20 × 20 = 400 cm² and the circle is 3.14 × 10² = 314 cm². The circle has been removed, so the card left over is 400 − 314. Some compound shapes are built by taking a piece away.

6 KS3-MATH-GEO-0047

A cylinder has a radius of 10 cm and a height of 5 cm. Using π = 3.14, what is its volume?

1570 cm³

HintFind the area of the circular end first, then multiply by how far that circle is stacked.

WhyThe circular end has area 3.14 × 10² = 314 cm², and the cylinder is that circle stacked 5 cm high, so the volume is 314 × 5. A cylinder is a prism: cross-section area × length.

7 KS3-MATH-GEO-0048

A cylinder with a radius of 10 cm has a volume of 942 cm³. Using π = 3.14, what is its height in cm? (number only)

3

HintWork out the area of the circular end, then ask how many of those layers fill the space.

WhyThe end has area 3.14 × 10² = 314 cm². Volume = end area × height, so height = 942 ÷ 314. Working backwards means undoing the last multiplication.

8 KS3-MATH-GEO-0049

A tin of beans is a cylinder with a diameter of 8 cm and a height of 10 cm. Using π = 3.14, what is its volume to the nearest cm³?

502 cm³

HintCheck which measurement across the circle you have been given before you square anything.

WhyThe formula needs the radius, which is half of 8 cm. Then 3.14 × 4² × 10 = 3.14 × 160 = 502.4, which rounds to the nearest whole number.

9 KS3-MATH-GEO-0050

The radius of a cylinder is doubled while its height stays the same. What happens to its volume?

It becomes four times as large

HintIn the formula the radius is squared, so see what squaring does to a doubled number.

WhyDoubling r turns r² into (2r)² = 4r², so the circular end has four times the area. With the same height stacked on top, the volume is four times as large too.

10 KS3-MATH-GEO-0051

The formula for the curved surface area of a cylinder with radius r and height h

2πrh

HintUnroll the label from a tin: a rectangle as wide as the distance round the rim.

WhyThe curved surface unrolls into a rectangle. One side is the height h and the other is the circumference 2πr, so the area is 2πr × h.

11 KS3-MATH-GEO-0052

The curved surface of a cylinder is unrolled flat to make a rectangle. One side of the rectangle is the cylinder's height. What is the length of the other side?

The circumference of the circular end

HintIt has to wrap exactly once round the rim.

WhyPeel the label off a tin and it lies flat as a rectangle. Its height is the height of the tin, and its width is exactly the distance round the tin, which is why the circumference appears in the formula.

12 KS3-MATH-GEO-0053

A cylinder has a radius of 4 cm and a height of 5 cm. Using π = 3.14, what is the area of its curved surface?

125.6 cm²

HintFind the distance round the rim, then multiply by how tall the side is.

WhyThe circumference is 2 × 3.14 × 4 = 25.12 cm, and the curved surface is a rectangle that wide and 5 cm tall: 25.12 × 5 = 125.6.

13 KS3-MATH-GEO-0054

A closed cylinder has a radius of 10 cm and a height of 20 cm. Using π = 3.14, each circular end has an area of 314 cm², the curved surface has an area of ____ cm², and the total surface area is ____ cm².

1256 cm²; 1884 cm²

HintUnroll the side into a rectangle for the first answer, then count every face of the solid for the second.

WhyThe curved surface is 2 × 3.14 × 10 × 20. A closed cylinder also has a circle at the top and another at the bottom, so two lots of 314 cm² are added to it.

14 KS3-MATH-GEO-0055

A bucket is a cylinder that is open at the top. To find the area of its outside surface, the number of circular ends to add to the curved surface is ____.

one

HintPicture the object and count the flat circular faces it really has.

WhyThe formula 2πr² + 2πrh is for a closed cylinder. A bucket or a drinking glass has a single circle, and a tube open at both ends has none, so read what the object is before choosing which parts to add.

Keep what you learn

Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.