Question 1
Observe the way a compass is made. What can one draw with the compass? Explore!

- A compass consists of two hinged arms: one with a fixed sharp metal needle point and the other holding a pencil.
- When the needle point is fixed at a point (center) and the pencil is rotated keeping the distance between the arms fixed, every point drawn is equidistant from the center.
- Therefore, a compass is specifically used to draw circles and circular curves called arcs.
Step 1 · Examine the Structure and Motion of a Compass
A compass has two arms joined by a hinge at the top:
- One arm has a sharp metal pointer that remains fixed at a single point (the center).
- The other arm holds a pencil that rotates around the center at a fixed distance (the radius).

Rotating the pencil arm around the fixed needle creates a smooth, closed curve where all points are equidistant from the center — a circle.
Step 2 · Identify What Can and Cannot Be Drawn
Based on its rotary motion at a fixed radius:
- Can draw: Full circles and curved segments of circles called arcs.
- Cannot draw: Straight lines (which require a ruler or straightedge), wavy curves, or irregular freehand shapes.
A compass can draw circles and parts of circles called arcs.
- Tool Confusion: Attempting to draw straight lines with a compass instead of using a ruler or straightedge.
- Radius Slippage: Not tightening the compass hinge, causing the arms to shift and creating uneven, non-circular shapes instead of a true circle.
More questions in IT
Observe the way a compass is made. What can one draw with the compass? Explore!
Take a point on the circle. What will be its distance from —equal to , less than or greater than ? Similarly, what will be the distance between and another point on the circle?
3. Eyes
How do you draw these eyes with a compass?
What shapes are these? Yes, these are our familiar squares and rectangles. But what makes them squares and rectangles?
Which of the following is not a name for this square?
Can you see why should be long?
How long is the side and what are the measures of and ?
Draw a rectangle with sides of length and . After drawing, check if it satisfies both the rectangle properties.
Draw a rectangle of sides and . After drawing, check if it satisfies both the rectangle properties.
Is it possible to construct a 4-sided figure in which—
- all the angles are equal to but
- opposite sides are not equal?
In a rectangle with and , is a point that can be moved anywhere along the side , and is a point that can be moved anywhere along the side .
Q. At which positions will the points and be at their closest? When do you think they will be the farthest? What does your intuition say? Discuss with your classmates.
In a rectangle with and , is a point that can be moved anywhere along the side , and is a point that can be moved anywhere along the side .
Q. Verify your guesses by placing the points and on the sides and measure how near or far they are. The distance between and can be obtained by measuring the length of the line .
(i) How does the minimum distance between the points and compare to the length of ? (ii) Change the positions of and to check if there are other positions where they are at their nearest or farthest. How will you keep track of the lengths for different positions of and ?
In a rectangle with and , is a point that can be moved anywhere along the side , and is a point that can be moved anywhere along the side .
Q. Suppose here are some of the positions of and that you have considered. Find the length of for each case shown in the list below:
Q. Is there a shorthand way of writing it down? In all the sentences, only the position of , and the length changes. So we could write this as shown in the table below:
Have you checked what happens to the length when and are placed at the same distance away from and , respectively? For example, as in the cases like these:
and so on.
In each of these cases, observe
- how the length compares to that of and
- the shape of the 4-sided figure .
How does the farthest distance between and compare with the length of ? ?
Explore
What about constructing a rectangle that can be divided into two identical squares? Can you try it?
It is wise to first plan and then construct. But how do we plan? Can you think of a way?
To draw the rectangle , one could assign any length to . For example, if we assign , then what must the length of be?
Explore: Can the rectangle now be completed?
With this idea, try constructing a rectangle that can be divided into three identical squares.
Give the lengths of the sides of a rectangle that cannot be divided into—
- two identical squares;
- three identical squares.
Construct
1. A Square within a Rectangle
Construct a rectangle of sides 8 cm and 4 cm. How will you construct a square inside, as shown in the figure, such that the centre of the square is the same as the centre of the rectangle?
Falling Squares
Construct the figure shown below, where each is a square of side . Make sure that the squares are aligned the way they are shown.
Now, try this: Construct the figure with squares of side , , and as shown.
Shadings
Construct this. Choose measurements of your choice. Note that the larger 4-sided figure is a square and so are the smaller ones.
4. Square with a Hole
Observe that the circular hole is the same as the centre of the square.
Hint: Think where the centre of the circle should be.
5. Square with more Holes
6. Square with Curves
This is a square with sidelengths.
Hint: Think where the tip of the compass can be placed to get all the 4 arcs to bulge uniformly from each of the sides. Try it out!
8.5 Exploring Diagonals of Rectangles and Squares
Consider a rectangle . Join and . These two lines are called the diagonals of the rectangle.
Compare the lengths of the diagonals. First predict the answer. Then construct a rectangle marking the points as shown and measure the diagonals.
Observe that a diagonal divides each of the pair of opposite angles into two smaller angles. In the figure, the diagonal divides angle into two smaller angles which we simply call and . The diagonal also divides angle into and . Are and equal? Are and equal?
First predict the answers, and then measure the angles. What do you observe? Identify pairs of angles that are equal.
Check if is indeed a rectangle satisfying properties and .
Construct
- Construct a rectangle in which one of the diagonals divides the opposite angles into and .
Construct
- Construct a rectangle in which one of the diagonals divides the opposite angles into and . What do you observe about the sides?
Construct
- Construct a rectangle one of whose sides is and the diagonal is of length .
Construct
- Construct a rectangle one of whose sides is and the diagonal is of length .
Was it necessary to draw two full circles to get the point ? We only needed part of both the circles.
Having obtained point A, what remains is the construction of the remaining arc. How do we do it?
Can we use the fact that A is of distance from both B and C?
Construct a bigger house in which all the sides are of length 7 cm.
Try to recreate 'A Person', 'Wavy Wave', and 'Eyes' from the section 'Artwork', using ideas involved in the 'House' construction.
Is there a 4-sided figure in which all the sides are equal in length but is not a square? If such a figure exists, can you construct it?
B) (From Construct above (page no. 211).)
For the purpose of construction, let us take the side lengths to be of . Consider this figure.
We need to identify only one more point to make this a 4-sided figure. That point, let us call it , should be from both and . How can such a point be found? Can any of the ideas used in the 'House' problem be used here?