1. The problem is to find the area of a regular pentagon with side length $8$ and apothem $5.5$. 2. The formula for the area $A$ of a regular polygon is: $$A = \frac{1}{2} \times P \times a$$ where $P$ is the perimeter and $a$ is the apothem. 3. For a pentagon, the perimeter $P$ is: $$P = n \times s = 5 \times 8 = 40$$ where $n=5$ is the number of sides and $s=8$ is the side length. 4. Substitute the values into the area formula: $$A = \frac{1}{2} \times 40 \times 5.5$$ 5. Simplify the multiplication: $$A = 20 \times 5.5$$ 6. Calculate the product: $$A = 110$$ 7. Therefore, the area of the regular pentagon is $110$ square units. This completes the solution.