To calculate the area of a shape, the method depends on the type of shape:
- For a rectangle or square, multiply the length by the width. This gives the area in square units (e.g., square centimeters, square meters). For example, a rectangle with a length of 8 cm and a width of 2 cm has an area of 8×2=16 cm28\times 2=16\text{ cm}^28×2=16 cm2.
- For a triangle, use the formula Area=12×base×height\text{Area}=\frac{1}{2}\times \text{base}\times \text{height}Area=21×base×height. This calculates half the area of a rectangle that would envelope the triangle.
- For a circle, the formula is Area=π×radius2\text{Area}=\pi \times \text{radius}^2Area=π×radius2, where π\pi π is approximately 3.14 and the radius is the distance from the circle's center to its edge.
- For other shapes like parallelograms and trapezoids, use specific formulas: parallelogram area is base times height, and trapezoid area is half the sum of the two bases times the height.
In general, area represents the amount of space inside a 2D shape, measured in square units, and can be found by counting unit squares or using multiplication formulas depending on the shape.
