A rectangle is a four-sided shape with four right angles (90 degrees) where opposite sides are equal in length and parallel. The area of a rectangle is the total space enclosed within its four sides, measured in square units.
Rectangles are one of the most common shapes in everyday life, from rooms and buildings to screens and paper. Calculating rectangle area is essential for flooring, painting, landscaping, and many other practical applications.
Calculating the area of a rectangle is straightforward:
The result will be in square units (e.g., square meters, square feet) based on your input measurements.
Or written mathematically:
Where:
Problem: Calculate the area of a rectangular room that is 12 feet long and 10 feet wide.
Solution:
Problem: A garden plot measures 5.5 meters by 3.2 meters. What is its area?
Solution:
Length is typically the longer side of the rectangle, while width is the shorter side. However, since multiplication is commutative, it doesn't matter which dimension you call length or width - the area will be the same.
Yes! A square is a special type of rectangle where all four sides are equal. You can use the same formula (length × width) for squares, or simply square one side length.
The perimeter formula is P = 2 × (length + width). This gives you the total distance around the outside of the rectangle.