What is the area of a rectangle calculated by?

The area of a rectangle is calculated using the formula A = lw, where A represents the area, l is the length, and w is the width of the rectangle. This formula defines the area as the product of the two dimensions, which effectively gives the number of square units that cover the entire rectangle.

In this context, the length and width are multiplied together because a rectangle can be thought of as consisting of several unit squares arranged in rows and columns. For example, if a rectangle measures 4 units in length and 3 units in width, the area would be 4 × 3 = 12 square units, indicating that twelve unit squares can fit inside that rectangle.

Recognizing this formula is crucial for various applications in geometry, such as calculating space and understanding properties of shapes in real-world contexts.