How_To_Be_Good_At_Math

168 MEASUREMENT •^ AREA MEASUREMENT •^ ESTIMATING AREA

Area

The amount of space enclosed by any 2D shape is called

its area. We measure area using units called square units,

which are based on the units we use for length.

We can find the area of

a rectangle by dividing it into

squares and counting the

number of squares.

TRY IT OUT

Unusual areas

We can also use square units to

work out the areas of more

complicated shapes. Can you

work out the areas of these

shapes by counting the number of

square centimetres in each one?

Take a look at this

garden. We can

work out its area by

filling it with 1 m²

patches of grass

and then counting

the patches.

As the garden fills

up, we can see

that two squares will fit

along its width and

three along its length.

In total, we can fit

exactly six 1 m²

patches into the

garden. We can say it

has an area of 6 m².

Look at this patch of

grass. It is 1 m long

and 1 m wide. We call it

a square metre, and we

write it like this: 1 m².

1 m ²^

LENGTH

1 m

3 m

WIDTH

1 m

2 m

Answers on page 319

168_169_Area.indd 168 29/02/2016 18:03