Square metre

The square metre (also spelled meter, see spelling differences) is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m². 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.

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
10²	square decametre	dam²	10^–2	square decimetre	dm²
10⁴	square hectometre	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

External links

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

Units of area | SI derived units

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Square metre

SI prefixes applied to the square metre

Conversions

See also

External links