Rectangles: how much bigger
for 4th grade

Compare the area of 2 rectangles and calculate the difference

To calculate the area of a rectangle, you multiply its width by its height. In this topic, you are asked to calculate the area of two rectangles and determine how much bigger the larger one is than the smaller one. To do so, you will need to calculate the area for both rectangles then subtract the smaller area from the larger. Your answer will be in units square.

Let's say you have 2 rectangles, one with dimensions of 5 m x 3 m and the other with dimensions 6 m x 4 m.

To calculate the area of the rectangles, multiply width by height.

The area of the first rectangle is:

Rectangle 1: Area = 5 m × 3 m = 15 m²

The area of the second rectangle is:

Rectangle 2: Area = 6 m × 4 m = 24 m²

The second rectangle has a bigger area than the first rectangle. The difference in area of the two rectangles is:

Difference in area = 24 m² - 15 m² = 9 m²

So, you can see that the second rectangle has an area 9 m² greater than the first rectangle.

This topic asks you to calculate the area of two rectangles and work out the difference in size. Your answers should be in square units such as square centimeters (cm²) or square meters (m²).