In the given figure, all line segments of the shaded portion are of the same length and at right angles to each other. The same can be cut out of a board of side 10 cm. What is the area of the shaded portion ?

To solve this, imagine the 10 cm board as a grid. Since the total side is 10 cm and the figure is composed of 5 equal segments across its width, each segment length is 2 cm (10 ÷ 5 = 2). This means each small square in the grid has an area of 4 cm² (2 × 2). By counting the squares in the shaded cross-like pattern, we find there are 13 squares in total (1 in the top/bottom rows, 3 in the second/fourth, and 5 in the middle). The total area is 13 squares × 4 cm² = 52 cm².