Twelve 1 by 1 squares form a rectangle, as shown. What is the total area of the shaded region?
Twelve 1 by 1 squares form a rectangle, as shown. What is the total area of the shaded region?
\(\text{Let the area of the lower triangle is $\dfrac{2\cdot 4}{2} = 4 $ }\\ \text{Let the area of the upper triangle is $\dfrac{3\cdot 4}{2} = 6 $ }\\ \text{The area of the shaded region is $4+6=\mathbf{10} $ }\)
Note that the shaded area is composed of two triangles...
The one on the left has a height of 4 and a base of 2.....so its area = (1/2)(2)(4) = 4 units^2
The one on the right has a base of 3 and a height of 4....so its area = (1/2)(3)(4) = 6 units ^2
So.....the total shaded area is [ 4 + 6 ] iunits^2 = 10 units^2
Slightly different approach - let's subtract off the non-shaded region.
By Pick's Theorem, we have that the area is $$\frac{4}{2}+1 - 1 = 2.$$ Note that this only works if the vertices are lattice points and there are no crosses in the figure. Then, the area of the rectangle is \(4\times3\), so our final answer is $$4\times3 - 2 = \boxed{10}.$$