How to Find the Area of a Rectangle or Square

Multiply the width by the height to find the area of your rectangle.

Students in elementary school math classes may be introduced to geometry concepts by calculating the area of a square or rectangle. The equations to find the area of these two-dimensional figures are nearly identical. For rectangles, you will multiply width by the height.

Things You'll Need

• Calculator

Instructions

1. Measure the width and the height of your rectangle. Make sure that these measurements are in the same base unit, such as centimeters or inches. For example, suppose your rectangle measures 7 inches wide by 6 inches high.

2. Multiply the width by the height. This will give you the area. In the example, you would multiply 7 by 6 to get 42 square inches.

3. Measure the length of one side if you have a square, since all sides will be equal. Then square the length to get the area. For example, if your square measures 6 centimeters on its sides, you would calculate 6^2 -- the same as 6 x 6 -- to get 36 square centimeters.

References

• Math Is Fun: Area of Plane Shapes