Just A Query

[Guest]

I remember doing this a long time ago at uni but please someone refresh my memory- old age et al.

 

What is the difference betwwen a rect and an oblong?

 

is a rectangle any 4 sided shape that has 90 degree angles

and an oblong - a 4 sided shape with 2 short sides and 2 long sides and all at 90 degree angle.

Why do i need this at nursery you may ask.......i want to get it right and i know what we traditionally call a rectangle is acutally one. I'm sure a square can be called a rectangle too.

 

Yours truly confused and talking gibberish

Please advice

[hali]

You are right a square can be called a rectangle and an oblong is a rectangle but with uneqal sides

 

A quote; Another word for rectangle. (Sometimes it is said that an oblong is a rectangle whose sides are different lengths; so a square is a special type of rectangle but it is not an oblong.)

 

[Lorna]

The way that I would define it is that all four sided shapes are quadrilaterials..... But not all 4 sided shapes are squares, rectangles or oblongs.

 

The main way in which the term Oblong is used is to mean a rectangle that has one pair of parallel sides longer than the other pair.

 

Also The dictionary says that

the shape is not necessarily rectangular (e.g. a sphere or circle can be stretched along one direction),

 

 

Therefore definitions for each of the shapes is:

 

A Square is a flat shape with four sides of equal length and four angles of 90°

 

An Oblong is an object or shape that is longer than it is wide, especially a four-sided flat shape with four angles of 90° and opposite sides of equal length

 

A rectangle is a flat shape with four 90° angles and four sides, with opposite sides of equal length

 

A quadrilaterial is a flat shape with four straight sides:

- Squares and rectangles are quadrilaterals.

 

 

 

When I teach about shape I use both oblong and rectange to describe the same shape because technically they are the same.

 

Hope thats helpful

 

L

[Rea]

I've always wondered what happened to the oblong. Seem to remember when I was a youngster it changed to being a rectangle because that was the grown up word for it. Glad thats been cleared up, thank you

[Susan]

Oh I know Rea, glad you must be of the same era as me! I dont remember ever muddling triangle and rectangle as so often happens now.

 

I always tell the children the name oblong but never concentrate much on it but it would help those poor souls who tell you its a "tangle", and confuse triangle and rectangle!

[mundia]

I agree with you Susan that oblong is so much easier for children to learn as it avoids the confusion over the 'angle' words of triangle and rectangle. I find the 'long' in oblong reminds children of the nature of long sides and short sides.

 

Sadly most commercial material uses the word rectangle, so children may come to school already knowing that term, and of course rectangle is in much more common usage now. But many of these materials incorrectly describe the rectangle as having long and short sides, rather than the generic term for the shape with 4 sides and 4 right angles. This means when children reach year 4 and find out that a square is a kind of rectangle, they often find it difficult to grasp. In my days as maths coordintor I insisted that we used agreed terminology as a whole school, because there is nothing worse than using one term and then the children saying ..'but ms so and so said it was a .....'

 

I have noticed though that oblong is making a comeback, albeit slowly!'

[Gezabel]

Sure you have all heard it before but I use this rhyme for triangle

 

I'm a little triangle

Look at me

Count my sides

1, 2, 3.

 

It seems to stop the confusion with the 'angle' of triangle and rectangle

[Susan]

So, Mundia do you have any idea why the term oblong disappeared or fell out of favour?

[Guest]

this was exactly what i was trying to find out mundia- about a rect being any 4 sides figue with 4 right angles. thanks for clearing it up.