Square metre

"M^2" redirects here. For other uses, see M².

A square metre quadrat made of PVC pipe.

The square metre (also spelled square meter, see spelling differences) is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m²(33A1 in Unicode). It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one metre. The square metre is derived from the SI base unit of the metre, which in turn is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in absolute vacuum during a time interval of 1⁄299,792,458 of a second.

Adding SI prefixes creates multiples and submultiples; however, as the unit is squared, the order of magnitude difference between units doubles from their comparable linear units. For example, a kilometre is one thousand times the length of a metre, but a square kilometre is one million times the area of a square metre.

Square metres are not necessarily the same as meters squared: an area 2 metres wide by 5 metres long would be 10 square metres, while 10 metres squared means an area of 10 metres by 10 metres. So 10 metres squared equals 100 square meters.

SI prefixes applied to the square metre

The square metre may be used with all SI prefixes used with the metre.

Multiple	Name	Symbol		Multiple	Name	Symbol
100	square metre (centiare)	m2		100	square metre (centiare)	m2
102	square decametre (are)	dam2		10–2	square decimetre	dm2
104	square hectometre (hectare)	hm2		10–4	square centimetre	cm2
106	square kilometre	km2		10–6	square millimetre	mm2
1012	square megametre	Mm2		10–12	square micrometre	µm2
1018	square gigametre	Gm2		10–18	square nanometre	nm2
1024	square terametre	Tm2		10–24	square picometre	pm2
1030	square petametre	Pm2		10–30	square femtometre	fm2
1036	square exametre	Em2		10–36	square attometre	am2
1042	square zettametre	Zm2		10–42	square zeptometre	zm2
1048	square yottametre	Ym2		10–48	square yoctometre	ym2

Conversions

A square metre is equal to:

• 0.000 001 square kilometre (km²)
• 10,000 square centimetres (cm²)
• 0.000 1 hectares (ha)
• 0.01 ares (a)
• 1 centiare (ca)
• 0.000 247 105 381 acres
• 1.195 990 square yards
• 10.763 911 square feet
• 1,550.003 1 square inches

See also

SI SI prefix 1 E0 m²

Conversion of units Orders of magnitude

References / sources

Based on wikipedia article to define common term used in articles.

External links

• BIPM (SI maintenance agency) (home page)
• BIPM brochure (SI reference)

{{{unit name}}}
Unit sign	{{{sign}}}
Measure	[[{{{measure}}}]]
Base Unit	[[{{{base}}}]]
Multiple of Base	10{{{multiple}}}
System	{{{system}}}
Common usage	{{{usage}}}
Examples
{{{examples}}}
Conversion
SI	{{{SI conversion}}}
Imperial	{{{imperial conversion}}}
see also: [[{{{see also}}}]]
Next units
[[{{{previous unit}}}]]	<	{{{unit name}}}	<	[[{{{next unit}}}]]