Area of a shape help

Question

I'm a bit stuck can anyone help?

Answer 1

Let’s find the length and width of the enclosing rectangle:

Length=1+5+1=7. Width=5. Area=7×5=35cm².

The area of each narrow rectangle is 5cm² and there are 4 of them, making 20cm².

So the shaded area=35-20=15cm².

Another way to solve it is to find the dimensions of the shaded area. Width=5-1-1=3cm. Length=5cm. So area=3×5=15cm².

Answer 2

It is actually 7cm by 6cm

 

 

You are taking 2 x 0.5cm  of the smaller sides rectangles which is 1. This leaves us with 6 x 7 = 42cm²