Square metre

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

Comparison of 1 Square metre with some Imperial and metric units of area

The square metre (International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) 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 itself 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 and subtracting 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 meter.

Multiplication	Name	Symbol		Multiplication	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)
• 0.001 decares (daa)
• 0.01 ares (a)
• 0.1 deciares (da)
• 1 centiare (ca)
• 0.000 247 105 381 acres
• 0.024 710 538 cents
• 1.195 990 square yards
• 10.763 911 square feet
• 1,550.003 1 square inches

See also

• 1 E0 m²
• Conversion of units
• Orders of magnitude
• SI
• SI prefix

External links

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