To find the total area of sections 1 and 2, we start by determining the dimensions of the triangle and the rectangle mentioned in your question.
The formula for the area of a triangle is given by:
\[ \text{Area}_{\text{triangle}} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \]
From your information, the area of the triangle is \(48\) square units. Let's denote the base of the triangle as \(b\) and the height as \(h\). Using the area formula, we have:
\[ 48 = \frac{1}{2} \times b \times h \]
To simplify this, we can multiply both sides of the equation by \(2\):
\[ 96 = b \times h \]
Next, we need to find the area of the rectangle. The area of a rectangle is computed as follows:
\[ \text{Area}_{\text{rectangle}} = \text{base} \times \text{height} = b \times h \]
From our earlier calculation, we already found that \(b \times h = 96\). Thus, the area of the rectangle is:
\[ \text{Area}_{\text{rectangle}} = 96 \]
If sections 1 and 2 refer to the area of the rectangle minus the area of the triangle (which is a common interpretation in many geometry problems), we can calculate their total area as follows:
\[ \text{Total area of sections 1 and 2} = \text{Area}{\text{rectangle}} - \text{Area}{\text{triangle}} \]
Substituting the known areas gives:
\[ \text{Total area of sections 1 and 2} = 96 - 48 = 48 \text{ square units} \]
Thus, the total area of sections 1 and 2 is:
\[ \boxed{48} \text{ square units} \]