Final answer:
The size of the land parcel described as the 'NE 1/4 of NW 1/4 of section' using the governmental survey method is 40 acres, which results from quartering a section twice.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is asking to determine the average size of a particular land parcel using the governmental survey method. In the United States, land is often divided using the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), which includes townships, sections, and fractional subdivisions such as quarters. The basic unit is the section, which is one square mile or 640 acres. A quarter section is ¼ of a section and hence is 160 acres. A quarter of a quarter section (¼ of 160 acres) is therefore 40 acres. When the description is 'NE 1/4 of NW 1/4 of section', it indicates that we need to find the size of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of the section.
Following the subdivision methods described above, to find the described parcel size, we take the section size (640 acres) and divide it by four twice because we're interested in a quarter of a quarter. 640 ÷ 4 = 160, and then 160 ÷ 4 = 40. Hence, the average size of the parcel NE 1/4 of NW 1/4 of section is 40 acres.