The area of a square with lengths of 4 miles on each side would be

• A. 16 square miles
• B. 8 square miles
• C. 4 square miles
• D. 32 square miles

Answer: (A)

Area of a square is found by squaring the side length. So with each side measuring 4 miles, the area is 4 miles × 4 miles = 16 square miles. The other values don’t come from squaring 4; they would correspond to different side lengths or misapplications of the formula. For example, squaring 2 miles gives 4 square miles, and squaring a side of about 2.828 miles would give 8 square miles, while a side around 5.657 miles would give 32 square miles. Since the given side is 4 miles, the correct area is 16 square miles.