perimiter is the distance around the shape. it is also the sum of the measures of the sides
so if you have a rectangle with sides legnth 4,4,2,2, then the perimiter is 4+4+2+2=12
area is dependent on the type of shape
basically, it is counting how much stuff in the shape
with a parallellogram, the area is legnth times width
so if you had a rectangle with legnth=4 and width=2 then the area is 4 times 2=8
