1. **State the problem:** We have two similar rugs, A and B. The cleaning cost is 0.40 per square meter. Rug B costs 7.20 to clean. We need to find the area of Rug A. 2. **Find the area of Rug B:** Cleaning cost for Rug B is given as 7.20. Cost = Area × 0.40 So, Area of Rug B = 7.20 / 0.40 = 18 m² 3. **Use similarity to find area ratio:** Side length of Rug A = 3 m Side length of Rug B = 5 m Since rugs are similar, areas scale as the square of the ratio of corresponding sides. Ratio of sides = 3 / 5 = 0.6 Ratio of areas = (0.6)² = 0.36 4. **Calculate Area of Rug A:** Area of Rug A = Area of Rug B × 0.36 = 18 × 0.36 = 6.48 m² 5. **Final answer:** Area of Rug A = 6.48 m² (to 2 decimal places)