A=length x height. First we want to know the area of the original sheet of paper. 8.5 x 11= 93.5 inches squared. Then we take two squares with side length 2 inches. The area of each of these squares is 2 x 2, or 4 inches. Since there are two, the total area we take away is 8 inches. We subtract 8 inches from 93.5 since we took it away, and the final area of the paper is 85.5 inches^{2}
Hope this helped!