Area is the amount of space inside a flat shape, measured in square units. When you measure the area of your bedroom floor, you're figuring out how much space you have to walk around, play, or arrange furniture. When a farmer measures the area of a field, she's determining how much land she has for planting crops.

Area is always measured in square units because you're essentially counting how many squares of a certain size would fit inside the shape. A small rug might have an area of 12 square feet, meaning 12 one-foot-by-one-foot squares would cover it completely. A soccer field has an area of about 8,000 square yards.

You calculate area differently depending on the shape. For a rectangle, you multiply length times width. A room that's 10 feet long and 8 feet wide has an area of 80 square feet. For a triangle, you multiply the base times the height and divide by two. Circles, hexagons, and other shapes each have their own formulas.

The word also means a region or section of a place, like a picnic area in a park or the downtown area of a city. When someone says “in this area,” they mean the general location or neighborhood they're talking about.