How to Find the Area of a Figure in Third Grade Math

Rectangles and squares are quadrilaterals.

The area of a figure is the amount of two dimensional space contained within that figure. In third grade, students are usually just beginning to learn multiplication. Therefore, finding the area of shapes tends to be limited to simple shapes such as rectangles and squares. Shapes such as triangles and circles require more complex mathematical skills. You can find the area of figures in third grade math by practicing some basic multiplication techniques.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler

Instructions

1. Measure the length and width of the figure with a ruler.

2. Multiply the length of one side times itself if the figure is a square (all sides are equal). This will give you the area of a square.

3. Multiply the length times the width if the figure has two long sides and two shorter sides (a rectangle). This will give you the rectangle's area.

4. State your answer in units squared. For instance, if a square has four sides that equal 2 inches each, you would multiply 2 times 2 to get an area of 4 inches squared. You also could write this as "4 square inches" or 4 inches^2.

References

• Math Is Fun: Area of Plane Shapes
• Cool Math: Areas