Area of a square can be calculated as base times height or using side length. Which expression is correct for a square?

Area of a square can be calculated as base times height or using side length. Which expression is correct for a square?

• A. L x W or s squared
• B. L x H
• C. W x H
• D. B x H

Answer: (A)

For a square, area is found by multiplying the side length by itself. Since all sides are equal, the base and the height are the same length, so base × height equals side length squared. If you label the side as L and the width as W, then L × W gives the same value because L = W in a square, which is the same as s². This is why expressing the area as base × height or as side squared is correct for a square. The other pairings use two dimensions that aren’t inherently the two equal sides of a square, so they don’t represent the standard way to express a square’s area unless those two dimensions are explicitly the same.

For a square, area is found by multiplying the side length by itself. Since all sides are equal, the base and the height are the same length, so base × height equals side length squared. If you label the side as L and the width as W, then L × W gives the same value because L = W in a square, which is the same as s². This is why expressing the area as base × height or as side squared is correct for a square. The other pairings use two dimensions that aren’t inherently the two equal sides of a square, so they don’t represent the standard way to express a square’s area unless those two dimensions are explicitly the same.