The following postulate is useful in finding areas of figures with irregular shapes.
The area of a region is the sum of the areas of its nonoverlapping parts.
Multiple Choice What is the area of the figure below? All angles are right angles.
Step 1 Separate the figure into rectangles.
What is another way to find the area?
Extend the figure to form a square. Then subtract the areas of basic shapes from the area of the square.
Step 3 Find the total area of the figure.
The area of the figure is
What is the area of the figure below?