Area Converter
Square meters, acres, hectares and more.
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Result
10.76391042 ft²
1 square metre in square foot
1 m² = 10.76391042 ft²
Area Conversion Math Formula
Area is length multiplied by length, so area units carry a square. That one fact is the key to converting them, and it is where most mistakes happen. You cannot reuse a length factor. You have to square it.
Take 1 m = 100 cm. A square 1 m on each side is 100 cm by 100 cm, which is 10,000 cm². The factor is 100² and not 100. The same logic gives 1 m² = 3.28084² = 10.7639 ft². The converter uses exact area factors and passes through square metres.
The formula
value in B = value in A × (m² per A) ÷ (m² per B)Area factor = (length factor)²Example: 1 ft² = (0.3048 m)² = 0.09290304 m²
Worked example 1: A 12 ft by 15 ft room, in square metres
12 ft × 15 ft = 180 ft²180 ft² × (0.09290304 m² ÷ 1 ft²)Answer: 16.7225 m²
Work out the area in the units you were given, then convert once. Converting each side first gives the same answer: 3.6576 m × 4.572 m = 16.7225 m².
Worked example 2: 2.5 acres, in hectares
2.5 ac × (4,046.8564224 m² ÷ 1 ac) = 10,117.141 m²10,117.141 m² × (1 ha ÷ 10,000 m²)Answer: 1.01171 ha
A hectare is a square 100 m on a side, so 1 ha = 100 m × 100 m = 10,000 m². An acre is smaller: one hectare is about 2.47 acres.
Worked example 3: One square metre, in square centimetres
1 m = 100 cm1 m² = (100 cm)² = 100 cm × 100 cmAnswer: 10,000 cm²
Not 100. Each of the two sides is multiplied by 100, so the area is multiplied by 100 × 100.
Worked example 4: One square mile, in acres
1 mi² × (2,589,988.110336 m² ÷ 1 mi²) = 2,589,988.110336 m²2,589,988.110336 m² × (1 ac ÷ 4,046.8564224 m²)Answer: 640 ac
Exactly 640 acres. Public land across much of the US was divided into one-square-mile sections of 640 acres.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using the length factor. 1 m is 3.28 ft, but 1 m² is 10.76 ft², not 3.28. If your answer in square feet is only about three times the number of square metres, you forgot to square the factor.
- "5 square feet" is not "5 feet square". 5 square feet is an area of 5 ft². A square 5 feet on each side is 5 ft × 5 ft = 25 ft². The words look alike and the numbers differ by a factor of five.
- Confusing hectares and acres. One hectare is 10,000 m² and about 2.471 acres. Mixing them up changes a plot size by a factor of nearly 2.5.
About area units
Area measures how much flat surface a shape covers. The SI unit is the square metre. Metric land units step up by powers of ten: 100 m × 100 m is a hectare, and 1,000 m × 1,000 m is a square kilometre, which holds 100 hectares.
The US customary units are built from the inch, foot, yard and mile, so each square unit is its length unit squared. The acre is the exception. It began as the area a team of oxen could plough in a day, and it is now defined as exactly 43,560 square feet: a rectangle 66 ft by 660 ft, or one chain by one furlong.
- Square millimetre (mm²)1 mm² = 0.000001 m²A square 1 mm on each side. One millionth of a square metre.
- Square centimetre (cm²)1 cm² = 0.0001 m²A square 1 cm on each side, which is 100 mm². One square metre holds 10,000 of them.
- Square inch (in²)1 in² = 0.00064516 m²Exactly 6.4516 cm², because 2.54 × 2.54 = 6.4516. There are 144 of them in a square foot.
- Square metre (m²)The SI unit of area. A square 1 m on each side.
- Hectare (ha)1 ha = 10,000 m²A square 100 m by 100 m. The standard land measure in metric countries.
- Acre (ac)1 ac = 4,046.856422 m²43,560 ft². If an acre were a perfect square it would be about 208.7 ft, or 63.6 m, on each side.
- Square kilometre (km²)1 km² = 1,000,000 m²A square 1 km on each side, which is 100 hectares.
- Square mile (mi²)1 mi² = 2,589,988.11 m²A square a mile on each side, which is 640 acres.
- Square foot (ft²)1 ft² = 0.09290304 m²The square of 0.3048 m, so the factor is exact.
- Square yard (yd²)1 yd² = 0.83612736 m²Nine square feet, because a yard is three feet and 3 × 3 = 9.
Area conversion table
| Value | m² | ft² | ha | ac |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ft² | 0.092903 | 1 | 0.0000092903 | 0.0000229568 |
| 1 m² | 1 | 10.7639 | 0.0001 | 0.000247105 |
| 1 ac | 4,046.86 | 43,560 | 0.404686 | 1 |
| 1 ha | 10,000 | 107,639 | 1 | 2.47105 |
| 1 km² | 1,000,000 | 10,763,900 | 100 | 247.105 |
| 1 mi² | 2,589,990 | 27,878,400 | 258.999 | 640 |
Area converter FAQ
How do I convert square metres to square feet?
Multiply by 10.7639. A 50 m² flat is 50 × 10.7639 = 538.2 ft². To go back, multiply square feet by 0.092903.
How big is an acre?
43,560 square feet, which is 4,046.86 m² or about 0.4047 hectares. As a perfect square it would be roughly 208.7 ft (63.6 m) on each side.
How many square feet are in a square yard?
Nine, because a yard is 3 feet and 3 × 3 = 9. In the same way there are 144 square inches in a square foot (12 × 12) and 640 acres in a square mile.
Why do I apply the factor twice when converting area?
Area has two length dimensions. When both sides are rescaled by the same factor k, the area scales by k × k = k². That is why an area factor is always the length factor squared, and a volume factor is the length factor cubed.
How many hectares are in a square kilometre?
100. A square kilometre is 1,000 m by 1,000 m, which is 1,000,000 m², and one hectare is 10,000 m².
How do I find the area of a room before converting?
Multiply length by width in the same unit, then convert once at the end. For an L-shaped room, split it into rectangles, find each area and add them.