Given four points in the Cartesian plane, A(2,2), B(5,2), C(5,6), and D(2,6), what is the area of the rectangle formed by these points?

Step 1 ：First, calculate the length of the sides of the rectangle using the distance formula. The distance between two points \((x_1, y_1)\) and \((x_2, y_2)\) is given by \(\sqrt{(x_2 - x_1)^2 + (y_2 - y_1)^2}\).

Step 2 ：The length of AB is \(\sqrt{(5 - 2)^2 + (2 - 2)^2} = 3\).

Step 3 ：The length of BC is \(\sqrt{(5 - 5)^2 + (6 - 2)^2} = 4\).

Step 4 ：Since the area of a rectangle is given by the product of the lengths of its sides, the area of ABCD is \(3 \times 4 = 12\).