Surds and Shapes

The resource is for KS4 students preparing for the Higher paper. The resource assumes that students know how to add and subtract surds, how to multiply and divide surds and how to simplify surds. A worksheet is included and the lesson presentation includes a starter, examples and worked solutions.

The new specification GCSE Higher papers feature many questions where two or more topics are combined. This lesson prepares students for questions that combine knowledge of surds with the properties of shapes and using formulae.

In the first half of the lesson, students learn how to find and simplify expressions involving surds for the perimeter and area of shapes. In the second half of the lesson, students learn how to find a missing length in surd form from the area or perimeter of the shape and other dimensions. In both cases the questions are structured to start with easier examples and to end with harder examples.