How to Calculate Property Size from Legal - The Easy Way

Suppose you have a legal description reading something like "...the S 1/2 of the NW 1/4 of the S 1/2 of the NE 1/2 ....of Section 17, T12N, R3E..." and the State exam asks you to calculate the size of that piece of property. Well, you DO know that a section has 640 acres, right? So, instead of drawing out the problem just divide backwards, in other words, 640 divided by 2, divided by 2, divided by 4, divided by 2, and you'll have the answer: 20 acres. The only catch is that if the description you get has an "and" in it, you need to calculate two amounts and add them. So, S 1/2 of the NW 1/4 and the S 1/2 of the NE 1/2 would be much larger and amount to 240 acres (640 divided by 2, divided by 2 plus 640 divided by 2 divided by 4).