We can break this down into 2 triangles and 1 rectangle. Let’s start with the rectangle:
Area of a rectangle is simply L•W, and here our length is 18 and our width is 4:
A = 18 • 4
A = 72 inches^2
Now for the triangles. The triangles are equal in measurement, so we can solve for one and multiply that area by 2 to get the total area of both triangles:
A = 1/2 b • h
We can find our base (b) by subtracting the width of the rectangle, 4, from the total side length of the shape, 7:
b = 7 - 4
b = 3 inches
Our height (h) is 8, now lets solve:
A = 1/2 (3) (8)
A = 12 inches^2
Multiply this by 2 for both triangles’ total area:
12 • 2 = 24 inches^2
Finally, add these final area up for the shape’s total area:
72 + 24 = 96 inches^2
The area of this shape is 96 in^2
Hope this helps!