Question

Morgan measured the rectangle below. She multiplied the measurements to find the area of the rectangle.

A rectangle with length two and half inches, and width one and three fourth inches.

What is the area of the rectangle?



in2



in2



in2



in2

Answer 1

To find the area of the rectangle, you multiply its length by its width.

**Length:** \(2 \frac{1}{2}\) inches can be converted to an improper fraction:

\[
2 \frac{1}{2} = \frac{5}{2} \text{ inches}
\]

**Width:** \(1 \frac{3}{4}\) inches can also be converted to an improper fraction:

\[
1 \frac{3}{4} = \frac{7}{4} \text{ inches}
\]

Now, we multiply the length by the width to find the area:

\[
\text{Area} = \left(\frac{5}{2}\right) \times \left(\frac{7}{4}\right)
\]

To multiply the fractions, we multiply the numerators and then the denominators:

\[
\text{Area} = \frac{5 \times 7}{2 \times 4} = \frac{35}{8}
\]

Now, to express the area in square inches, we can convert the improper fraction to a mixed number:

\[
\frac{35}{8} = 4 \frac{3}{8}
\]

Therefore, the area of the rectangle is \(4 \frac{3}{8}\) square inches.

In decimal form, this would be:

\[
4.375 \text{ in}^2
\]

Thus, the area of the rectangle is:

\[
\boxed{4 \frac{3}{8} \text{ in}^2} \quad \text{or} \quad \boxed{4.375 \text{ in}^2}
\]