A rectangle has a length of centimeters and a width of centimeters. What is the area, in square centimeters, of the rectangle?
For basic geometry questions about rectangles, immediately recall that area uses multiplication () and perimeter uses addition (). Carefully read which one the question is asking for, plug in the given length and width, and perform the single required operation—avoiding extra steps or extra factors like 2 that belong to perimeter, not area.
Hints
Think about the correct formula
For a rectangle, are you supposed to add the sides or multiply the side lengths to find the area?
Identify the two numbers to use
Which two measurements of the rectangle are given in the problem, and how do they relate to length and width in the area formula?
Set up the calculation
Write the area formula for a rectangle, substitute 12 for the length and 7 for the width, and then perform that single arithmetic operation.
Desmos Guide
Use Desmos to compute the product
In Desmos, type 12*7 into an expression line. The value that appears next to the expression is the product of 12 and 7, which represents the rectangle’s area in square centimeters.
Step-by-step Explanation
Recall the area formula for a rectangle
The area of a rectangle with length and width is given by the formula
This means you multiply the length by the width.
Substitute the given length and width
Here, the rectangle has:
- length centimeters
- width centimeters
So the area is
Now you just need to calculate this product.
Multiply to find the area
Compute the product:
So, the area of the rectangle is square centimeters, and the correct answer is 84.