The perimeter of a shape is the total length needed to form that shape and enclose an area. Think of a square fence, for example. You want to build a square fence to bound your backyard as your own area, so you need to know how much wood in feet you need in order to form the square fence.
One important property of squares is that all 4 sides are congruent, meaning they all have the same side lengths. As stated earlier, the perimeter is the total length around a shape, or the total amount of length needed to form the shape.
So, we can create a basic equation to define the perimeter of the square:
P=side 1 + side 2 + side 3 + side 4
We know all four sides are congruent, so let’s simplify the equation:
P=4(s)
P=perimeter, s=side length
We are given that the perimeter equals 16yds, so P=16:
(16)=4(s)
Now, let’s solve for “s” (side lengths):
Divide both sides by 4:
16/4=s
4=s
So, each side is 4yds.