Area

What is area?
Area is the amount of space a figure (or shape) covers.
Other Important Vocabulary:
Square unit: a square with sides that are 1unit long.
Unit: a measurement tool like centimeters, inches,
feet, yards, etc.
Dimensions: the sides of a figure

- Length: vertical (up and down)

- Width: horizontal (left to right)
How do I find area?
1. Count the number of square units on the inside of the
figure.

= 1 square unit

This figure has an area of 15 square units because there

are 15 little rectangles each worth one square unit
inside the perimeter.
2. Use the formula l x w (length times width):

= 1 square unit

The length of this rectangle= 3 square units

The width of this rectangle= 5 square units
The area is equal to 3 x 5=15 (The students will need to
know this formula).

The figure has an area of 15 square units because 3x5 is

equal to 15.
Examples:
1. Do the two figures below have the same area? Why or why not?
A.
B.
= 1 square unit

To solve the problem:

1. Count the square units in each figure. (I have the students
write a number in each box so they do not lose count).
2. Write the found area under each figure.
3. Decide if the numbers are the same.
Solution:
No, the two figures do not have the same area. They do not have
the same area because the total number of square units is
different for each figure. Figure A has an area of 7 square
units and Figure B has an area of 18 square units.
2. The rectangle below has an area of 16 square units. Show how to
make a rectangle with the same area but with a width of 2 square
feet instead of 4 square feet.
Solution

Both of the rectangles have an area of 16 square units. The

dimensions of the original rectangle are 4 square units by 4
square units. The dimensions of the solution rectangle are 8
square units (length) by 2 square units (width).
3. Ms. Boyajan has decided to put a pool in her backyard. Below is
a drawing that she created to plan her pool.
a. Determine the area of Ms. Boyajans backyard.

To find the area of Ms. Boyajans backyard you can either

count the squares or use l x w. I recommend using both- the
formula then counting to check.
The length is equal to 7 square units.
The width is equal to 10 square units.
Plug the numbers into the formula l x w to get 7 x 10, which
is equal to 70.
The area of the back yard is 70 square units.
b. Determine the area of the pool (inside rectangle).
To find the area of the pool you can either count the squares
on the inside rectangle or use l x w. I recommend using boththe formula then counting to check.
The length of the inside rectangle is 5 square units.
The width of the inside rectangle is 8 square units.
Plug the numbers into the formula l x w to get 5 x 8, which is
equal to 40.
The area of the pool is 40 square units.
c. Use these areas to calculate what part of her yard will be
left as a yard. Write this as an equation.
Think: To find out the part of the yard that will be left as
yard and not pool I need to take the pool away from the total
area. So I need to subtract.
Do: (7x10)-(5x8) = yard
70-40=30
Solution: There will be 30 square feet of yard left as yard in
Ms. Boyajans backyard.

4. Find the area of the figure below:

4 cm

4 cm

2 cm

5 cm
cm
7 cm

To find the area of the whole figure you need to break it down into
smaller rectangles and find the area of the smaller rectangles. Once you
have done that you can add the areas together to find the total area.
The rectangle on the left has a length of 6 cm and width of 4 cm. Using
the formula l x w the area is 24 centimeters squared.
The rectangle on the right has a length of 5 cm and a width of 4 cm. Using
the formula l x w the area is 20 centimeters squared.
The rectangle in the middle has a length of 3 cm and a width of 7 cm.
Using the formula l x w the area is 21 centimeters squared.
*To find the length of the middle rectangle use the right rectangle. The
length of the right rectangle is 5 cm. The small portion that does not
connect to the middle rectangle is 2 cm. 5 cm-2 cm is 3 cm.
Now that we know the areas of all the small rectangles we need to add them
together:
24+20+21= 65; the area of the figure is 65 units squared.
*Student may use whatever addition strategy they would like to add the
areas together.