Measuring Area
In this section, I will learn how to find the area of a 2 Dimensional Object by:
- Finding items that are roughly 1 square centimeter
- Finding items that are roughly 1 square meter
- Using objects to measure the surface of a 2D object
- Using multiplication
What is Area?
Area is the amount of surface on a 2 Dimensional Object. A 2 Dimensional object is flat and only has 2 of the following: length, width or height. Here are some examples of a 2 Dimensional Object.
The top of the counter, the triangle and the surface of the chess board are all examples of 2 Dimensional objects we can find the area of.
What is Area NOT?
Measuring how long, wide or tall a straight line is.
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Measuring the distance around a 2D object, such as the fence around a yard.
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Measuring how much stuff we can fit in to a 3D object.
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How do we measure Area?
We measure area by finding how many 2D objects we can lay on a surface. For example, how many square tiles do I need to make a kitchen counter top? We measure area using two types of units. One is called centimeter square and the other is called meter square.
Things that are roughly one centimeter square:
Things that are roughly one meter square:
This large dog is sitting in an area of roughly
one meter square. |
This easel, though it's not a perfect square, is roughly one meter square.
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9 of the floor tiles in our classroom in a square is roughly one meter square.
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What are some ways that I can find the area of a 2 shape?
First off, area is measured in centimeter square or meter square. The symbols for these two units are written like this:
To measure the area of any 2D object, you can use any shape that is in the form of a square and count how many pieces are needed to fill the entire object as shown in the video below to the right. Like everything else in Math, there is a very quick way to do this. We only need to find the length and width and multiply them together. Here's a really quick formula to help you remember: Length x Width = Area |
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Practice Questions
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