What is the area of a rectangle with length 7 and width 4?

• A. 28
• B. 11
• C. 31
• D. 16

Answer: (A)

The area of a rectangle is found by multiplying its length by its width. With a length of 7 and a width of 4, the area is 7 × 4 = 28 square units. Picture the rectangle as a grid of 7 rows and 4 columns—there are 7×4 little squares in total, which is 28. That’s why 28 is the correct area. The other numbers come from different ideas: adding the sides isn’t how you count area, and 16 would come from using 4×4 or a mistaken squaring of a dimension, while 31 isn’t derived from multiplying 7 and 4.