Embedded Files
Materials
Materials
Area worksheet (one per person)
Rectangle from the area figures printout (one per person)
Scissors to cut out the rectangle figure (one per person)
Area of a Rectangle: Counting & Multiplication
Area of a Rectangle: Counting & Multiplication
By counting the unit squares making up the rectangle we can arrive at the area of the rectangle in square units. In our example, there are 45 unit squares for an area of 45 square units.
The area can be also be arrived at by using multiplication to count the total of unit squares making up the figure. In our example, we have nine rows of five square units for a total of 45 square units.
Area Formula: Rectangle
Area Formula: Rectangle
In general, the area of a rectangle of length l and width w can be found by multiplying the side lengths:
Note: It is common for students to respond "length times width" in response to the question, "What is area?" It is important to emphasize that area is the amount of two-dimensional space taken up by an object and that formulas like "length times width" are specific to calculating the areas of certain figures.
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