Calculate the square of a number

To find the square of a number, multiply the number by itself.

Examples

Example 1: Find the square of 8

Solution: $8^2 = 8 \times 8 = 64$

Example 2: Find the square of 12

Solution: $12^2 = 12 \times 12 = 144$

Example 3: Find the square of 20

Solution: $20^2 = 20 \times 20 = 400$

Here are the squares of numbers from 1 to 20 that you should remember:

A number chart can help you visualise squares. When you create a square arrangement using dots or objects, the total number of dots in the square tells you the square of that number.

For example, if you arrange 3 objects in a row and repeat this 3 times to form a square, you will have $3 \times 3 = 9$ objects in total. This shows that the square of 3 is 9.

In Tanzania, you can use squaring when calculating the area of a square piece of land. For example, if a farmer has a square plot of land where each side measures 15 metres, the area of the land is $15 \times 15 = 225$ square metres. Knowing how to calculate squares helps builders, farmers, and shopkeepers measure spaces and plan how much material they need.