Hi there, well we know that the rectangular patio is 6 1/2 yards long and 5 1/4 yards wide. Now, you asked for the area of the patio. The word, "AREA" means to multiply. Their are two ways to multiply fractions, the first way is to make the mixed numbers into improper fractions and then multiply them, or you can multiply the whole numbers and then multiply the fractions. In this case, I am going to make the mixed numbers into a improper fraction and them multiply them. 6 1/2= 13/2 and 5 1/4= 21/4, 13*21=273 and 2*4=8. The fraction we got was 273/8. What we have to do from here is make the fraction 273/8 into a mixed number, 273/8 as a mixed number is 34 1/8. Therefore, the area of the patio is 34 1/8.