We have been given a piece of maths coursework. A farmer has exactly 1000 metres of fencing and wants to fence off a plot of level land. she does not mind what the shape is but it must have a perimeter of 1000m. She wants to fence off the plot of land which contains the maximum area. Investigate the shape, or shapes that could be used to fence in the maximum area using exactly 1000 metres of fencing each time.
I have investigated many shapes, and I feel that a circle will have the biggest area. However we have also been asked to investigate shapes with 20 and 30 sides. My dad said that there is a formula for finding out any area of land. Do you know of this formula, if so I would be very grateful if you were to email it to me.