Square (Geometry)

(Jump to Area of a Square or Perimeter of a Square)

A Square is a flat shape with 4 equal sides and every angle is a right angle (90°)

Square
the little squares in each corner mean "right angle"

right arrow All sides are equal in length
right arrow Each internal angle is 90°
right arrow Opposite sides are parallel (so it is a Parallelogram).

Play with a square:

images/geom-quad.js?mode=square

A square also fits the definition of a rectangle (all angles are 90°), a rhombus (all sides are equal length), a parallelogram (opposite sides parallel and equal in length) and a regular polygon(all angles equal and all sides equal). What a hero!

Area of a Square

square  

The Area is the side length squared:

Area = a2 = a × a

Example: A square has a side length of 6 m, what is its Area?

Area = 6 m × 6 m = 36 m2

square diagonal   The Area is also half of the diagonal squared:

Area = d22

Perimeter of a Square

The Perimeter is the distance around the edge.

square perimeter  

The Perimeter is 4 times the side length:

Perimeter = 4a

Example: A square has a side length of 12 cm, what is its Perimeter?

Perimeter = 4 × 12 cm = 48 cm

Diagonals of a Square

A square has two diagonals, they are equal in length and intersect in the middle.

square diagonal  

The Diagonal is the side length times the square root of 2:

Diagonal "d" = a × √2

Example: A square has a side length of 5 m, what is the length of a diagonal?

square diagonal example

Diagonal Length = a × √2
= 5 × 1.41421...
= 7.071 m (to 3 decimals)

Calculator

Enter the side length, area, diagonal or perimeter and the other values are calculated live.

 

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