Final answer:
To calculate the area of a rectangle, one must multiply its length by its width. However, without the exact length given, it's impossible to determine the area for the student's original rectangle question.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the area of the rectangle, we need to know both its length and width. While the width is given as 5 units, the length is not explicitly provided. However, based on provided measurements and significant figures, we can determine that the rectangle's width for a different scenario is 1.25 cm. If we were to use this width with the formula for the area of a rectangle, which is length times width, we could calculate the area for that specific scenario.
As for the original question, without the exact length, we cannot calculate the rectangle's area. Typically, you would multiply the length by the width (5 units) to get the area. But in the information given, there are examples using proportions and scale factors to determine lengths and calculate areas in different contexts, which is essential for spatial understanding in mathematics.