What is the formula for the area of a rectangle?

• A. A = l × w
• B. A = l + w
• C. A = l^2
• D. A = w^2

Answer: (A)

Area is the amount of space inside a shape. For a rectangle, you can picture covering it with a grid of 1-by-1 squares. If the rectangle has length l and width w, there are l rows of w squares, giving a total of l × w square units. So the area formula is A = l × w.

For example, a rectangle 5 units long and 3 units wide has area 15 square units. The other expressions don’t give area: adding length and width (l + w) just combines two lengths and isn’t a measure of space inside; squaring a single dimension (l^2 or w^2) gives the area of a square with that side, not the rectangle with the other dimension.