Area of rectangles
Length × width. Year 4 introduces; Year 5 covers compound shapes; Year 6 extends to triangles and parallelograms.
Area is the space inside a 2D shape, measured in square units (cm², m²). For a rectangle, area = length × width. Year 5 SATs include compound shapes made of rectangles.
Worked examples
5 cm × 3 cm rectangle has area 15 cm².
L-shape (compound): split into two rectangles, sum the areas.
Triangle (Year 6): ½ × base × height. A 6 cm × 4 cm triangle has area ½ × 6 × 4 = 12 cm².
Frequently asked questions
Why cm² not cm?
Area is two-dimensional, so the unit is two-dimensional too. cm² means ‘square centimetres’ — how many 1cm-by-1cm squares fit in the shape.
What about parallelograms?
Year 6: base × perpendicular height (NOT slant height).