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:
“Houses haunt me.
That last house!
How it sat like a square box!”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)