We are trying to find the area of the shaded part, and so we start with finding the area of the entire half that is marked (the area with measurements). The length is 8 in, as seen on the bottom, and the height is 12 in, as seen on the side. 8 * 12 = 96, so the entire portion from the shaded part to the very right is 96 sq. inches. Now we have to take out the white triangle part to find the area of the shaded part. Area of a triangle = 1/2*base * height, so we multiply 1/2 * 12 * 4, which gets us 24. Now that we know the area of the triangle, we subtract it from the previous area we got, which was the area of the shaded part plus the triangle (96). 96 - 24 = 72, so the area of the shaded portion is 72 sq. inches. Hope this helps!
