Sandra Efstratiou, age 11, of Somerville, Massachusetts, for her question:

Which are the field and canton areas of a flag?

The canton of our flag is filled with stars. The field is covered with stripes. These flag terms date back through the history and heraldry of many nations. The canton is the top quarter of a flag next to the side that is attached to the staff, or flagpole. All the rest of the flag is called the field. On many flags, the design covers both the field and the canton with no division between them. On our flag, the canton and the field are distinctly different.

We may use other special terms when describing the aspects of a flag. The horizontal width of the banner is called the fly. The vertical depth is called the hoist. There is a proper relationship between the hoist and the fly of a national flag. The fly of our Stars and Stripes is 1.9 times longer than the hoist. This is to say that a correct U.S. National Flag that has a 38 inch fly must have a 20 inch hoist    making it 38 inches wide and 20 inches deep.