to find the area of a rectangle, is it supposed to go area=lxw?

Yes. That's (length) times (width).It doesn't make any difference if you multiply (width) times (length).The result is the same.  That's one of the 'properties' of multiplication . . .It doesn't matter which order you do it in.

Yes, the area of a rectangle is length times width (A=lw) or base times height (A=bh). They mean the same thing, just with different wording.For example:Let's say you have a rectangle with the following dimensions - 8 in. x 9 in.Area = length * widthA = 8 * 9A = 72Therefore the area of this rectangle would be 72 square inches.