Area of a Square

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Lesson Objective

In this lesson, we will learn about the area of a square.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, we will:

  • Learn about the formula to find the area of a square.
  • See an example on using the formula to calculate a square's area.
  • See another example on using the formula to find the length of each side (edge) of the square.

The study tips and math video below will explain more.

a rectangle

Study Tips

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Tip #1

A square has four right angles and all the sides of a square have the same length.

Now, if the length of each side is L, the area, A of the square will be:

A = L2

The math video below will give more explanation on this. Also, we will see some examples on how to use this formula.

a square with all sides of length L

Math Video

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Lesson Video

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Math Video Transcript

00:00:03.180
In this lesson, we will learn about the area of a square.

00:00:08.180
Consider this square. All the sides of this square have the same length, L.

00:00:16.050
Now, we can get the area of this square, A, by multiplying both of these length L together.

00:00:23.130
With this, we get the area, A, equals to L multiply by L. This gives L square.

00:00:31.230
Note that, we also must include the unit. Since we are multiplying these 2 lengths together, the unit for the area will be in the form of square unit.

00:00:42.070
We will see the explanations on this, in the upcoming example.

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Now, Let’s see some examples on using this formula.

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Find the area of this square when the length of each side is 3cm.

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To do so, we start with the formula for the area of a square, A equals to L square.

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Since the length of each side is 3 cm, we can substitute L with 3.

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This gives 3 square.

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Now, let's simplify 3 square. 3 square is actually the same as, 3 multiply by 3, which is 9.

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Let's write down this number.

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Now, this number is meaningless unless we include the unit for it.

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Since the length is given in centimeter, the unit for the area will be in square centimeter.

00:01:41.230
Therefore, the area of this square is 9 square centimeter.

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Next example, given that the area of this square is 4 square feet, find the length of each side.

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Now, we start with the formula for the area of a square, A equals to L square.

00:02:03.180
Since the value of the area is given, we can find the length of each side, by solving the equation for L.

00:02:11.060
Here’s how. Since the area is given as 4 square feet, we can substitute A with 4.
00:02:19.170
Now, we have, L square equals to 4.

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Let's rewrite this equation so that it will look neater.

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To find L, we can see that since 4 is equals to L square, L can be found by calculating the square root of 4.

00:02:38.020
Square root of 4 is 2.

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Now this number has no meaning unless we include the unit for it.

00:02:47.030
Since the area is given in square feet, the side of the square will be in feet.

00:02:53.170
Therefore, the length of each side of the square is 2 ft.

00:03:00.010
That is all for this lesson. Try out the practice question to further your understanding.

Practice Questions & More

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Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)

Now, let's try some MCQ questions to understand this lesson better.

You can start by going through the series of questions on the area of a square or pick your choice of question below.

  • Question 1 on finding the area of a square
  • Question 2 on finding the length of the sides of a square
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