How To Calculate Area

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What is area?
Area tells us the size of a shape or figure. It tells us the size of squares, rectangles, circles,
triangles, other polygons, or any enclosed figure.

In the real world it tells us the size of pieces of paper, computer screens, rooms in houses,
baseball fields, towns, cities, countries, and so on. Knowing the area can be very
important. Think of getting a new carpet fitted in a room in your home. Knowing the area
of the room will help make sure that the carpet you buy is big enough without having too
much left over.

Calculating Area
Area is measured in squares (or square units).

How many squares are in this rectangle?

We can count the squares or we can take the length and width and use multiplication. The rectangle above has an area of
15 square units.

The area of a rectangle is = length x width

Examples of calculating the area of a rectangle

Area = Length x Width

Area = 3 x 2 = 6 square units

Area = Length x Width

Area = 8 x 6 = 48 square units

 Area = Length x Width

Area = 9 x 5 = 45 square units

Units for measuring area

We measure area using squares. We use different sizes of squares depending on how big or small an area is.

Example Length of side on Squares Unit

Size of the nail on your thumb Millimeter mm2

Size of piece of paper Centimeter cm2

Size of a room Meter m2

Size of a town Kilometer km2

Don't forget the wee 2

We write square sizes using a small 2 next to the unit.

We write mm2, cm2, m2 , km2, cm2
We can say "63 millimeters squared" or " 63 square millimeters"

We could use small squares to measure large areas. The only problem with this is that we would end up having to use very
big numbers. For example, a field might be measured at 5,000,000,000 square millimeters when 5,000 square meters
would be a much easier size to say, write, and visualize.

You will probably hear more units for measuring area; square inches, square feet, square yards, square miles, acres,
hectares are all units used for measuring area.

More Examples of Calculating Area of Rectangles

Area = Length x Width

Area = 9 mm x 4 mm = 36 mm2
 Area = Length x Width

Area = 7 cm x 6 cm = 42 cm2

Area = Length x Width

Area = 8 m x 2 m = 16 m2

Area = Length x Width

Area = 7 km x 5 km = 35 km2

Area of a Square
The length and width of a square are the same so we just need to multiply the length by the length.

Area = Length x Length

Area = 6 cm x 6 cm = 36 cm2

Area of a Circle
The area of a circle = r2
where r is the radius of the circle and is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
(pronounced "pie" and often written "Pi") is an infinite decimal with a common approximation of 3.14159. You can find
out more about Pi here
Example of calculating the area of a circle
 Area = r2
Area = 3.14159 x (4 cm)2
Area = 3.14159 x 16 cm2
Area = 50.27 cm2
Answer rounded to 2 decimal places

Explanation of the Area of a Circle Formula

Take a circle and divide it into equally sized sectors and rearrange these as shown below. Notice how, as the sectors
become smaller, the shape becomes more like a rectangle. Note: There is no limit to how small these sectors could be and
to how closely they could resemble a rectangle when arranged.

Assuming we know that the circumference of a circle is equal to 2r we can add dimensions to the "rectangle" as shown
below. Using the area of a rectangle area formula, area = width x height we can see how our circle, re-configured as a
rectangle, can be shown to have an area that approximates to r x r or r2
Circle Sectors Rearranged

Circle Sectors Rearranged - Starting to Look Like a Rectangle

Area of Compound Shapes
There are many cases where the calculation of a total area requires more than one area to be calculated followed by either
an addition, subtraction, or some other combination of operations to find the required area.

Note: In the examples below the units of measurement are not shown and answers and the value of (Pi) have been
rounded to the nearest hundredth.

Example: Simple Compound Shapes

The area calculation example below is relatively simple. The shape can be seen as a triangle combined with a rectangle.

Area of triangle part:

x base x height
x 9 x 4 = 18

Area of rectangle part:

width x height
9 x 6 = 54

Total area = 18 + 54 = 72

The example above illustrates a common requirement when working with compound shapes - finding dimensions that are
not shown. When tutoring your children, give help, when needed, to find these "missing" dimensions. There is another
example below.

Finding the dimensions

What are the dimensions of the small rectangular part?

Width? 12 - 7 - 2 = 3

Height? 8 - 6 = 2

Example: Subtracting one area from another

In the example below, the shape can be seen as a rectangle with a triangle cut out.
 Area of rectangle part:
width x height
5 x 6 = 30

Area of triangle part:

x base x height
x 3 x 3 = 4.50

Total area = 30 - 4.50 = 25.50

Example: Partial areas

The example below is similar to one above although, since we have a semi-circle we need to calculate a fraction (one-half)
of the circle's area. Note in this example the diameter, and not the radius is shown.

Area of triangle part:

x base x height
x 6 x 6 = 18

Area of semi-circle part:

x (r2)
x (3.14 x 1.52) = 3.53
Total area = 18 - 3.53 = 14.47

Example: Decisions! Combine? Subtract

It is common to have more than one way to calculate the final area. In the examples below the shape can be seen as two
rectangles combined or as one large rectangle with a smaller rectangle "cut out" from the top right corner.

There is no right or wrong method.

We can calculate the areas of rectangles a and b and then add to get the area.
area = (3 x 6) + (6 x 4)

area = 18 + 24 = 42

Or we can calculate an "imaginary" rectangle, c, and subtract

rectangle d from it to get the area.
area = (9 x 6) - (6 x 2)

area = 54 - 12 = 42