Investigations

Materials:

The tangram is a square that has been cut into seven pieces.

A square cut into 7 pieces: 2 large triangles, 1 medium triangle, 2 small triangles, 1 small square and 1 parallelogram.

Can you make other squares using some, but not all, of the pieces?
Can you make five different squares?
What is the smallest square you can make?
What is the largest?

Possible Hints and Questions

  • How many pieces are there altogether?
  • What could you put with this piece to make a square?
  • Are all the pieces different?

Possible Extension

Try some of the additional tangram puzzles using the virtual version.

Adapted from nrich.maths.org