Experiment: Properties of Rectangles

Objective

This experiment is designed to provide an interactive environment in which students can manipulate a rectangle to investigate the common properties among all rectangles.

User´s Guide

By dragging any of the vertices of the rectangle, students can change the shape or the size:

  1. Drag any of the four vertices horizontally to change the horizontal dimension.
  2. Drag any of the four vertices vertically to change the vertical dimension.
  3. Drag any of the vertices diagonally to scale the rectangle in both horizontal and vertical directions.
  4. In addition, each of the slider bars can be used to scale the rectangle horizontally or vertically.
  5. The display of diagonals, angles, and related numerical information can be turned on and off as desired.

Students can change the rectangle to any desired shape and size providing them with a convenient environment to discover and observe the common properties among all rectangles.

 
 
 
 
Experiment: Properties of Rectangles
Suggested Experiments

  1. As you drag any of the vertices, observe the two diagonals. Are they equal all the time?
  2. Do the diagonals bisect each other?
  3. Can we change a rectangle into a square by changing the two adjacent sides to make them equal? Can we say that a square is a rectangle with two equal adjacent sides?