How do you find out the area of a composite figure? - Answers

There are different formulae for different shapes. Try to break down the composite firgure into components that you can add together (or subtract one from the other). An annulus, for example, is a big circle minus a smaller circle. Areas of squares, triangles, trapeziums, circles, semicircles and the process described anove will answer most high school questions. For more complex figures you may need to look elsewhere. Copy the shape onto a lamina of uniform density. Cut out the shape and find its mass. Also find the mass of a unit square of the lamina. Then area of composite shape = size of unit shape*mass of composite shaped lamina/mass of unit shape.