Four equal squares, each with an area of $3 \mathrm{~cm}^{2}$, are overlapped to form the figure below. What is the area of this figure?

![](https://cdn.mathpix.com/cropped/2024_05_01_372bf95320fb8596c1bdg-2.jpg?height=442&width=803&top_left_y=1304&top_left_x=638)
If the area of each square is $3 \mathrm{~cm}^{2}$ and each of them is divided into 16 small squares, then the area of each small square is $\frac{3}{16} \mathrm{~cm}^{2}$. Since the 4 squares overlap in 6 small squares, the area of the figure is:

$$
4 \times 3-6 \times \frac{3}{16}=12-\frac{9}{8}=10.875 \mathrm{~cm}^{2}
$$

![](https://cdn.mathpix.com/cropped/2024_05_01_372bf95320fb8596c1bdg-6.jpg?height=457&width=807&top_left_y=842&top_left_x=636)