Estimation is useful in all mathematics operations. tell whether the answer to this problem is sensible 18 - 5 = 23

It is not sensible.

explanation:

You are subtracting, so there is no way you could get a larger number. If this was addition, it would be sensible.

there are lots of ways.   pick's theorem tells us if the vertices are lattice points the area a is

a = b/2 + i - 1

where b is the number of boundary lattice points and i is the number of interior lattice points.

in the figure i count b=16, i=50 so

a = 8 + 50 - 1 = 57

let's try the shoelace formula.   the area is half the sum of the cross products of the sides.  

a(-2,6)   -2(2)-6(-5) = 26

b(-5,2)   -5(-3) - 2(-2) = 19

c(-2,-3) -2(-3) - (-3)(4) = 18

d(4,-3)   4(3) - (-3)(5) = 27

e(5,3)   5(3) - 3(1) = 12

f(1,3)     1(6) - 3(-2) = 12

a(-2,6)

each of the cross products is twice the area of the triangle with the associated side and one vertex the origin. so the area of abo=26/2=13.

area = (1/2) (26 + 19 +   18 + 27 + 12 + 12) = 57

that checks!

so a parallelogram is just like a square base times height. multiply 40 and 39 to get 1560 inches.

a triangle is base times height divided by two. so multiply 7.9 and 5 and then divide it by 2 to get 19.75inches.

the kite can be split into two separate triangles and added together to get the total area. 30 x 4 /2 which equals 60. make sure to double it for the two triangles making 120.