Comparing areas by multiplying

The first instance of  is under the 3rd Grade Math Mission. This exercise practices comparing areas and strengthens the connection of the geometric concept of area with the arithmetic operation of multiplication.

Types of Problems
There are two types of problems in this exercise:


 * 1) Compare the sizes: This has a visual display in the form of a chart or picture. The student needs to figure out the areas of all objects involved, answer a question about which is smallest or largest, and tell the difference between the largest and the smallest.Compbymult1.png
 * 2) Put in order of size: This problem has several rectangles drawn and the student is to put them in order from smallest area at the top to largest at the bottom.Compbymult2.png

Strategies
This exercise is easy to get accuracy badges because calculations are simple. As with most ordering problems, it is medium difficulty to attain speed badges because of dragging times.


 * 1) The second question on the first type of problem seems to always be the largest minus the smallest.
 * 2) All shapes involved in all questions are rectangles, so the area formula is always length times width.