The area of a 2D shape refers to the amount of space it takes up.
The area of a shape is measured in square units, usually cm² or m²
In this activity, you will be asked to calculate and compare the area of rectangles.
These will ether be cm² or m² (not to scale)
Let’s go!
Let’s find the area of the shape below.
Each square is 1 cm² (not to scale)
To find the area we multiply the length (l) by the width (w).
The length is 4 cm and the width is 7 cm.
4 x 7 = 28 (l x w)
The unit of measure is cm², so the area is written as 28 cm²
Now let’s compare some areas.
Which shape has the greatest area?
Each square is 1 cm² (not to scale)
Remember that we multiply the length by the width.
Yellow = 7 x 6 = 42 cm²
Blue = 11 x 4 = 44 cm²
The blue rectangle has the greatest area.
One more to look at before you have a go!
Let’s work out the area of this compound shape.
Each square is 1 cm²
We can see that the shape has been divided into two rectangles (a square is actually a special type of rectangle)
To calculate the area, we simply find the area of each rectangle and then add them together.
Blue = 3 x 9 = 27 cm²
Yellow = 4 x 4 = 16 cm²
27 + 16 = 43 cm²
The total area is 43 cm²
