The square mile (abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi2) is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile. It should not be confused with miles square, which refers to the number of miles on each side squared. For instance, 20 miles square (20 × 20 miles) is equal to 400 square miles.
One square mile is equivalent to:
- 4,014,489,600 square inches
- 27,878,400 square feet
- 3,097,600 square yards
- 640 acres
- 258.9988110336 hectares
- 2560 roods
- 25,899,881,103.36 square centimetres
- 2,589,988.110336 square metres
- 2.589988110336 square kilometres
When applied to a portion of the earth's surface, which is curved rather than flat, "square mile" is an informal synonym for section.
Famous quotes containing the words square and/or mile:
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)
“smile
As you find a rhythm
Working you, slow mile by mile,
Into your proper haunt
Somewhere, well out, beyond . . .”
—Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)