Printable · GCSE Foundation · ages 14-16
Plans and elevations worksheet — GCSE Foundation
Fifteen questions on "plans and elevations" — DfE statement G13. Print it, or print three versions so neighbours cannot copy by letter; the key gives the letter for each version.
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Answer key: Plans and elevations worksheet — GCSE Foundation
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- (d) A rectangle — Method: to find the plan view, work out the outline traced when looking straight down onto the solid from directly above, not the outline shown in the angled sketch. Working: this solid has two identical flat round ends joined by one curved surface, and it is lying on its side rather than standing upright; viewed from above, the curved surface gives two straight edges running the full length of the solid, the width of the round ends apart, and each flat round end — seen edge-on from directly above — also becomes a straight edge of that same width, with no curve remaining. Four straight edges, with opposite sides equal and meeting at right angles, form a rectangle. Answer: a rectangle. The distractors: a circle comes from picturing the solid as if it were standing upright on one of its flat ends, giving the plan of an upright version instead of working out the plan of the solid as it actually lies. An oval comes from copying the foreshortened shape of a round end as it is drawn in the angled sketch, instead of working out the true shape seen from directly above, which has no such foreshortening. A rectangle with rounded ends comes from carrying the curve of the round ends over into the plan view, when in fact a flat round end viewed edge-on from directly above shows no curve at all, only a straight edge.
- (a) a cone — A cone, viewed from directly above, shows its circular base as a circle; viewed from the front, its curved surface narrows to a point at the apex, giving a triangle outline — so a circle plan with a triangle elevation identifies a cone. "a cylinder" has a circular plan too, but its front elevation is a rectangle, not a triangle, since its sides run straight up rather than narrowing to a point. "a sphere" gives a circle from every direction, plan and every elevation alike, not a triangle from the front. "a square-based pyramid" gives a triangle from the front, but its plan view is a square, not a circle.
- (b) 5 cm by 3 cm — The plan view looks straight down on the cuboid's footprint, so it shows the length (5 cm, left to right) and the depth (3 cm, front to back) — the two dimensions that do not involve height. "5 cm by 2 cm" repeats the front elevation's dimensions, pairing the length with the height instead of the depth. "3 cm by 2 cm" repeats the side elevation's dimensions, again pairing the depth with the height rather than with the length. "5 cm by 5 cm" comes from mistakenly assuming the plan must be a square, pairing the length with itself instead of with the depth.
- (b) A triangular prism standing on its triangular end — Method: a rectangular elevation with no sloping sides means the solid keeps the same cross-section all the way from the bottom to the top; work out which solid, standing the right way up, has a triangular cross-section that stays that shape as you go higher. Working: a triangular prism standing upright on its triangular end has a triangle as its plan view, and because the cross-section is constant all the way up, both the front and side elevations are plain rectangles. Answer: a triangular prism standing on its triangular end. The distractors: a triangle-based pyramid standing on its triangular base does give a triangle as its plan view, but its cross-section shrinks towards the apex, so its front and side elevations come to a point and are triangles, not rectangles. A cuboid standing on a rectangular face is wrong because its plan view is a rectangle, not a triangle. A triangular prism lying on one of its rectangular faces is wrong because it is then the triangular end that faces the side, so its plan view is a rectangle and one of its elevations is a triangle.
- (c) a square — A cube has six identical square faces, and looking at it from directly above, directly from the front, or directly from the side each shows one of these square faces face-on, undistorted — so all three views are squares of the same size. "a triangle" would be the plan or elevation of a solid such as a pyramid or cone, not a cube. "a circle" belongs to a sphere or a cylinder viewed along its axis, not a cube. "a rectangle that is not a square" would appear if the cube's edges were not all equal, which is not true of a cube.
- (a) 24 — The display is 4 tins wide, 3 tins high and 2 tins deep, and every position in that block is filled, so the total number of tins is the product of all three measurements: 4 × 3 × 2 = 24. "12" comes from multiplying only the width and height shown in the front elevation (4 × 3), forgetting the depth entirely. "9" comes from adding the three measurements (4 + 3 + 2) instead of multiplying them. "6" comes from multiplying only the height and depth (3 × 2), forgetting the width shown by the front elevation.
- (d) a rectangle — The shed is a prism, so its two triangular ends are identical and parallel, a fixed distance apart along the shed's length; the floor they stand on is therefore bounded by the base of one triangle, the base of the other, and the two straight edges joining them — a rectangle. Looking straight down, the sloping roof projects onto that same rectangle rather than outside it, so the plan view is a plain rectangle, as long as the shed and as wide as its gable end. "a triangle" is the shape of the END wall, seen from the front or back, not from above. "a triangle with a rectangle attached" wrongly combines a side-elevation feature with the plan — the plan does not show the triangular end wall at all, since looking down hides it completely. "two triangles joined at their bases" describes neither the plan nor any single elevation of this shed.
- (a) 4700 cm² — Method: split the T-shaped outline into the two rectangles it is made from, find the area of each, then add them together. Working: the wide base gives a rectangle 90 cm × 30 cm = 2700 cm²; the narrower block on top gives a rectangle 40 cm × 50 cm = 2000 cm²; adding these, 2700 + 2000 = 4700 cm². Answer: 4700 cm². The distractors: 2700 cm² comes from finding only the area of the base rectangle and forgetting to add the block on top. 2000 cm² comes from finding only the area of the top block and forgetting the base. 7200 cm² comes from treating the whole outline as one large rectangle, 90 cm wide by (30 + 50) = 80 cm tall, instead of splitting it into the two separate rectangles that actually make up the shape.
- (b) 23 — If every position were filled to the full height of 3, the total would be 2 × 4 × 3 = 24 crates. One corner position has only 2 crates instead of 3, one crate short of full height there, so the actual total is 24 − 1 = 23. "24" comes from using the full height everywhere and forgetting the one incomplete corner. "22" comes from removing 2 crates for the incomplete corner instead of the 1 that is actually missing (3 − 2 = 1, not 2). "21" comes from removing all 3 crates at that corner, as though the position were completely empty rather than 2 crates short.
- (a) 33 — Method: total crates = (number of floor positions that actually have crates on them) × (the stack height). Working: there are 4 × 3 = 12 floor positions in the whole arrangement, but one corner position is left empty, leaving 11 filled positions; each filled position is stacked 3 crates high, so 11 × 3 = 33. Answer: 33. The distractors: 36 comes from forgetting to remove the empty corner and using all 12 positions (12 × 3). 35 comes from removing only one crate for the empty corner instead of the full stack of 3 (36 − 1). 11 comes from counting the filled floor positions and stopping there, forgetting that each one carries a stack 3 crates high.
- (d) 15 cm² — Method: identify the length that is common to both views, since it is the box's length; then read off the width from the plan view and the height from the front elevation, and multiply those two measurements to find the area of the side elevation. Working: both rectangles share a side of 8 cm, which is the box's length; the plan view's other side gives a width of 5 cm, and the front elevation's other side gives a height of 3 cm. The side elevation is bounded by the width and the height: 5 cm × 3 cm = 15 cm². Answer: 15 cm². The distractors: 24 cm² comes from giving the area of the front elevation shown (8 cm × 3 cm) instead of working out a new rectangle for the side elevation. 40 cm² comes from giving the area of the plan view shown (8 cm × 5 cm) instead of working out the side elevation. 120 cm² comes from multiplying all three measurements together (8 cm × 5 cm × 3 cm), finding the volume of the box instead of the area of one face.
- (b) 28 — Method: total bricks = (number of squares in the footprint) × (the height of the wall in bricks). Working: the footprint has the row of 5 squares plus the 2 squares in the arm that stands out from the middle of that row, and they do not overlap, giving 5 + 2 = 7 squares; multiplying by the height of 4 bricks gives 7 × 4 = 28. Answer: 28. The distractors: 20 comes from using only the row of 5 and ignoring the arm (5 × 4). 24 comes from treating the bottom square of the arm as if it were one of the row's own squares, so the arm is counted as adding only 1 new square instead of 2 (5 + 1 = 6, then 6 × 4). 32 comes from counting the square of the row directly below the arm a second time as part of the arm (5 + 3 = 8, then 8 × 4).
- (a) 3 squares — Method: the plan view shows only the floor positions that have at least one cube standing on them; height does not add extra squares to the plan. Working: the base row occupies three floor positions in a line. The two extra cubes stand on top of two of those same three positions, so they do not create any new floor position. Answer: 3 squares. The distractors: 5 squares comes from adding the total number of cubes used (3 + 2 = 5) instead of counting distinct floor positions. 2 squares comes from counting only the raised two-cube section and ignoring the single cube at the other end of the row. 4 squares comes from counting one of the shared positions twice.
- (c) 6 squares — Method: the plan view shows the footprint of the solid; a second layer stacked on top of floor positions that are already covered does not create any new squares in the plan. Working: the row of 4 cubes and the row of 2 cubes attached at the end do not overlap, so the footprint has 4 + 2 = 6 distinct squares. Answer: 6 squares. The distractors: 12 squares comes from counting the total number of cubes used, including the second layer (6 floor positions × 2 layers = 12), instead of the footprint. 4 squares comes from counting only the row of four and forgetting the attached row of two. 5 squares comes from wrongly treating the corner square as shared between the two rows (4 + 1 instead of 4 + 2).
- (b) a rectangle — Lying on its side, the cylinder's curved surface touches the table along a straight line, and the two flat circular ends face sideways rather than up or down; viewed from directly above, the outline traced is a rectangle — as long as the cylinder and as wide as its diameter. "a circle" would be correct if the cylinder stood upright on one of its circular ends instead of lying on its side. "a triangle" belongs to a cone lying or standing so that it narrows to a point in that view, which a cylinder never does. "an oval" is a common guess from picturing the round ends, but from directly above those ends are edge-on and contribute to the rectangle's short sides, not a curved outline.
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