We start with a parallelogram that has a base of 8 centimeters and a height of 5 centimeters. The area of this parallelogram is base times height, which equals 8 times 5, giving us 40 square centimeters.
Now we identify where to cut the parallelogram. We draw a vertical line from the top left vertex down to the base. This creates a right triangle on the left side that we will cut out and move to the right side.
Now we move the cut triangle to the right side. The triangle slides horizontally and fits perfectly at the right edge of the remaining shape. This movement transforms our parallelogram into a perfect rectangle.
Perfect! We have successfully transformed the parallelogram into a rectangle. The rectangle has a length of 8 centimeters and a width of 5 centimeters. When we calculate the area, we get length times width, which is 8 times 5, equals 40 square centimeters. Notice that this is exactly the same area as our original parallelogram, proving that the transformation preserves area.