Find the Area of a Rectangle

What do you call an angle that has been squashed?  A wrecked angle...

The good old rectangle - another two dimensional shape that we easily recognise.  I bet you called it an oblong when you were younger!!

What examples can you think of that we can see in everyday life?

This picture needs to be framed, so we need to calculate its area in order to buy the correct size frame.

There are all sorts of reasons for which we might need to find the area of a rectangle: framing pictures, laying flooring, painting walls, tiling etc.

Before we can do any of these, there is one thing we need to know, and that is how to find the area of a rectangle.

First of all, we know that the sides of a rectangle are not all the same length. 

Two sides will have one length and the other two sides a different length.

As with a lot of shape work, there is a formula that you need to learn. So here goes:

Area of a rectangle = base x height

Yes, really that is all there is to it.

You may recognise that it is the same as the formula for the area of a square.

Find the area of this rectangle:

Area = base x height

Area = 9 cm x 5 cm = 45 cm²

As we are working with area, units are always squared. e.g cm², m²

There will be no stopping you now!