Area: FAQ

Area is the amount of space a two-dimensional, or a flat, shape covers.

The distributive property tells us that we can break a multiplication problem into two smaller problems and then add the results together. This can be really helpful when we're trying to find the area of a shape that's made up of two or more smaller shapes.

If a shape is made up of unit squares, we can count the number of squares to find the area. So, for example, if a shape is made up of $8$8 unit squares, the area is $8$8 square units.

To find the area of a rectangle, we multiply the length by the width. So, for example, if a rectangle has a length of $6$6 inches and a width of $4$4 inches, the area is $6\times4=24$6, times, 4, equals, 24 square inches.

We can use the formula for the area of a rectangle to solve for the missing side length. For example, if we know that the area of a rectangle is $24$24 square inches and the width is $6$6 inches, we can set up the equation $6\times x=24$6, times, x, equals, 24 and solve for $x$x to find that the length is $4$4 inches.

Area is a really important concept in math, and it's used in a lot of real-world situations. For example, if you're painting a room, you need to know the area of the walls in order to figure out how much paint to buy.