MIDDLE SCHOOL
GRADE SIX
TAMMY - MOTHER OF EMILY

MY DAUGHTERS TEACHER ASKED HER TO GIVE BOTH A DESCRIPTION AND A DEFINITION OF THE FOLLOWING ... CIRCLE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE,HEXAGON......
THE LIST GOES ON. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION ? DO A CIRCLE FOR AN EXAMPLE PLEASE.

Hi Tammy,

I expect that the teacher wants to emphasize that a mathematical definition is more precise than a description in common language. You might describe a circle as round or shaped like a dime, but a mathematical definition needs to be more precise and use terms that have been defined previously. For example a circle is defined as

A circle is the set of all points in the plane that are a given distance from a fixed point.

The fixed point is called the center and the given distance the radius.

For the others I would probably start with a polygon

A polygon is a closed figure in the plane made up of line segments.

Here "closed" means that the first and last points in the polygon coincide. A triangle is then a polygon with three sides and a hexagon is a polygon with six sides.

I hope this helps,
Penny

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