PLEASE HELP, WILL MARK BRAINLIEST!! The diagram shows the dimensions of a deck. A student finds the area by adding 16 ft^2 + 48 ft^2. Is the student correct? Explain your reasoning.

The student is wrong, the total area = 16 ft² + 20 ft²

Step-by-step explanation:

See the attached figure.

The shown figure is a composite area of:

1) A rectangle with length of 8 ft and width of 4 ft

2) A triangle of base (8 - 4 = 4ft) and height of ( 6 - 4 = 2 ft)

The area of the rectangle = length x width = 8 * 4 = 32 ft²

The area of the triangle = 0.5 base x height = 0.5 * 4 * 2 = 4 ft²

So, the total area = 32 + 4 = 36 ft²

OR

The figure can be consists of :

1) A square of side length of 4 ft

2) A trapezoid of height (8-4 = 4 ft) and the bases length is (6 and 4 ft)

So,

The area of the square = 4 * 4 = 16 ft²

The area of the trapezoid = 0.5 (6+4) * 4 = 5 * 4 = 20 ft²

So ,the total area = 16 + 20 = 36 ft²

So,

The student is distracted, he finds the area of total rectangle of sides 8 and 6 ft, he should subtract from it the area of the trapezoid of height 2 ft and bases of 4 and 8 ft

So, the student is wrong

answer: the common difference is -0.10