Area= Length x Width. To figure out the area of a strange shape, you should divide it into portions. The top section would be calculated as 4x7=28. The second long and skinny rectangle at the middle is 3x10 (the three being from 7-4 and the 10 from 14-10, both values being the remainder of the space without the first shape), which equals 30. The final shape is the rectangle at the bottom, and to calculate its area the equation would be 1x4=4. You add all these values together (28+30+4) to get 62 metres squared (dont forget the sqaured!).
It is always negative, because it keeps going down on the number line. Say it is negative 8 minus 5, it would be negative 13, because it adds to the negatives, so it would go deeper into the negatives.
