to do anything...

Search EDIT HELP US EXPLORE LOG IN MESSAGES

Article Edit Discuss Home Categories Education and Communications Subjects Mathematics Geometry Calculating Volume and Area
Surface Area
About this wikiHow
Edit Article
wikiHow to Calculate Square Meters Co-authors: 20
Three Methods: Calculating an Area in Square Meters Converting from Other Units 245 votes - 67% Updated: 18 hours ago
Calculating Square Meters for a Complex Shape Community Q&A Click a star to vote Views: 1,856,766

Square meters are a measurement of area, usually used to measure a two-dimensional space
such as a field or floor. For example, you might measure the footprint of a couch in square meters,
then measure your living room in square meters to see if it will fit. If you only have a ruler or Related Articles
measuring tape that uses feet or another non-metric unit, you can still use it to calculate the area,
then convert to square meters.
Advertisement

How to How to
Convert Meters to Calculate Area of
Feet an Object

How to
Method Find the Surface
1 Calculating an Area in Square Meters Area of a How to
Rectangular Find the Surface
Prism Area of Cylinders

1 Choose a meter stick or metric tape measure. Select a meter stick ruler or tape
measure with meters (m) or centimeters (cm) printed on it. These tools will make it
easier to calculate square meters, since they were designed in the same system of
measurement.
If you can only find a ruler with feet (ft) or inches (in), measure with those instead, then
go to the section on converting to square meters.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
2 Measure the length of the area you're measuring. Square meters are a unit for
measuring area, or the size of a two-dimensional object such as a floor or a field. Use
your measuring tool to measure one side of the object, from one corner to the other. Write
down the result.
If the object is longer than 1 meter, remember to include both the meter and
centimeter parts of the measurement. For instance, "2 meters 35 centimeters."
If you want to measure an object that isn't rectangular or square, read the Complex
Shapes section instead.

3 If you can't measure the entire length at once, do it in stages. Lay out the
measuring tool, then put down a rock or other small object exactly at an easy to
remember mark (like 1 meter or 25 centimeters). Pick up the tool and lay it down again,
starting at the small object. Repeat until the entire length is covered, and add all your
measurements together.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
4 Measure the width. Use the same tool to measure the width of the same area or object.
The side you measure in this step should be angled close to 90 away from the length of
the object you measured earlier, like two sides of a square next to each other. Write this
number down as well.
Unless the object you're measuring is much smaller than 1 meter, you can round to the
nearest centimeter when making your measurements. For instance, if the width is
slightly past the 1 meter 8 centimeter mark, just use '"1m 8cm" as your measurement,
without using decimals or millimeter measurements.

Did this article help you?

Yes No

5 Convert from centimeters to meters. Usually, the measurements won't divide evenly
into meters. Instead, you'll have a measurement in both meters and centimeters, for
example "2 meters 35 centimeters." Because 1 centimeter = 0.01 meters, you can convert a
centimeter measurement into meters by moving the decimal point two digits to the left. Here
are a couple examples:

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
 35cm = 0.35m, so 2m 35cm = 2m + 0.35m = 2.35m
8cm = 0.08m, so 1m 8cm = 1.08m

6 Multiply the length and width together. Once both measurements are converted into
meters, multiply them together to get the measurement of the area in square meters. Use
a calculator if necessary. For example:
2.35m x 1.08m = 2.538 square meters (m2).

7 Round to a more convenient measurement. If you get a long decimal as an answer,

for instance 2.538 square meters, you'll probably want to round it to a number with fewer
digits, for instance 2.54 square meters. In fact, since you probably didn't measure correctly
down to the tiniest fraction of a meter, the last digits probably aren't accurate anyway. In most

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
 cases, you can round to the nearest centimeter (0.01m). For a more accurate measurement,
learn how to round to the significant digits.
Whenever you multiply two numbers with the same units (for instance, meters), the
answer is always in the form of that unit squared (m2, or square meters).

Method
2 Converting from Other Units

1 Multiply square feet by 0.093. Measure the length and width in feet and multiply them
together to get a result in square feet. Since 1 square foot = 0.093 square meters,
multiply your result by 0.093 to get the answer in square meters instead. Square meters are
bigger than square feet, so it will take fewer of them to cover the same area.
For greater precision, multiply by 0.092903 instead.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
2 Multiply square yards by 0.84. If you have the measurement in square yards, multiply
by 0.84 to get the measurement in square meters.
For greater precision, multiply by 0.83613 instead.

3 Multiply acres by 4050. One acre contains about 4050 square meters. If you want to be
more precise, multiply by 4046.9 instead.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
4 Convert square miles to square kilometers instead. One square mile is much, much
larger than a square meter, so typically it is converted into square kilometers instead.
Multiply the square miles by 2.6 to find the area in square kilometers instead. (Or multiply by
2.59 instead to be more precise.)
If you really want to convert to square meters, 1 square kilometer = 1,000,000 square
meters.

5 Convert square meters to units of area, not length. Square meters are a unit that
measures area, or two-dimensional surfaces. It doesn't make any sense to compare
them with units that measure length, or distance in one direction. You can convert between
"square meters" and "square feet," but not between "square meters" and "feet."
Don't use the calculations in this section to convert between units of length. That
requires different numbers.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
Method
3 Calculating Square Meters for a Complex Shape

1 Break the shape up into pieces. If you are solving a math problem, draw or cut lines in
the shape to divide it into simpler shapes, such as rectangles and triangles. If you are
measuring a room or other physical object, sketch a diagram of the area first, then do the
same thing. Take measurements of each section and write them on the diagram. Follow the
instructions below to find the area of each section, then add the results together.

2 Measure rectangle shaped pieces as you would normally. To find the area in
square meters for rectangular sections, see the instructions for calculating an area in
square meters.
If you are measuring in a different unit, look at the section on other units.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
3 Measure right triangles similarly, then divide by two. A right triangle, which has a
90 angle just like the corners of a square, has an area easy to calculate. Measure the
two sides next to that 90 corner (the length and width), multiply them together, then divide by
two to get the answer in square meters.
This works because a right triangle is exactly the size of a rectangle cut in half.
Basically, you found the area of a rectangle as usual, then divided by two to get the
area of the triangle.

4 Turn other triangles into right triangles, then measure them. Draw a line from any
corner of a triangle to the opposite side, so that the line hits the opposite side at a 90
angle (picture the corner of a square).[1] You've just divided the triangle into two pieces, each
one a right triangle! See above for instructions on how to find the area of a right triangle;
measure each of the two sub-triangles separately, and add them together.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
5 Calculate the area of a circle. The area of a circle is r2, where r is the radius, or
distance from the center of the circle to the rim, or perimeter. Measure this distance,
multiply it by itself, then multiply the result by on a calculator. If you don't have a calculator with
a function, use 3.14 instead (or 3.1416 if high precision is required).
If you're not sure where the center is, have a friend hold a tape measure and walk
around the edge of the circle. Hold the other end of the tape measure and adjust your
position until the measurement stays the same while your friend walks around the
entire edge.
More complicated curved boundaries require more advanced math to calculate. If you
are measuring a room for practical purposes, it might be easier to estimate the area
by pretending the curved surfaces are a series of straight lines.

Community Q&A

How do I calculate cost per square meter?

Divide total cost by the number of square meters.

Donagan, Top
Answerer Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1

How do I calculate the square meters for hexagon-shaped tiles?

Consider the hexagon as one large square, including the "missing" triangles at
Donagan, Top
Answerer
each of the four corners of the square. Calculate the area of the square. Then,
subtract the area of the four "missing" triangles.
Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1

What is the difference between a square meter and metre squared?

They're two ways of saying the same thing. The latter is the British way of saying it.
Donagan
Not Helpful 0 Helpful 8

How many feet is in a lot that is 6 x 10 meters in dimension?

If you're asking about square feet, you would multiply the two lengths and then
Donagan multiply by 10.76 (the number of square feet in a square meter).
Not Helpful 0 Helpful 7

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
How many square meters equal a square foot?

There are 10.76 square feet in one square meter. That means there is 0.093
Donagan square meter in one square foot.
Not Helpful 2 Helpful 10

How do I convert 20 meters in to square meters?

If the length and width of the space are both 20 meters, 20 x 20 = 400 square
wikiHow Contributor meters.
Not Helpful 10 Helpful 27

How do I convert square meters to feet?

If you mean square feet, there are 10.76 square feet in one square meter.
Donagan
Not Helpful 1 Helpful 6

How do I calculate the area of a triangle?

Multiply the length of a base of the triangle by the length of the corresponding
wikiHow Contributor altitude and divide the product by two.
Not Helpful 4 Helpful 12

How do I calculate how many tiles I need in a square meter?

Find the area of the tile by multiplying its length by its width. Then divide that area
Donagan into one square meter. That tells you how many tiles will fit into a square meter. For
example, if a tile is a square 5 cm on a side, its area is 25 cm. A square meter
contains 10,000 cm, so you'd divide 25 into 10,000 to get 400, the number of tiles
you'd need to cover a square meter.
Not Helpful 2 Helpful 7

The building is 40 meters x 80 meters x 9 meters: what is the overall square meters and
how is it worked out?

9 m sounds like a height and wouldn't be considered here. Multiply the other two
Donagan lengths to get square meters. (If you're looking for cubic meters, you would multiply
all three lengths together.)
Not Helpful 5 Helpful 10

Show more answers

Unanswered Questions
How many square meters in 1 hectare?
Answer this question Flag as...

Show more unanswered questions

Ask a Question
What do you need to know? We'll do our best to find the answer.

Submit

Tips

Say "five square meters" instead of "five meters squared." These are technically both correct, but
the second one is often misinterpreted to mean the area of a square five meters long and five
meters wide (which actually has an area of 25 square meters, or 5 x 5).[2]

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
 If you're not sure whether you calculated correctly, check that your answer is in the right ballpark
with these measurements:
An American football field is about 5,400 square meters.
An association football (soccer) field ranges from 4,000 to 11,000 square meters.[3]
A king-size mattress is about 5 square meters.[4]

Things You'll Need

Ruler or tape measure

Calculator

Related wikiHows Edit

How to How to
Convert Meters to Feet Calculate Area of an Object

How to
Find the Surface Area of a Rectangular How to
Prism Find the Surface Area of Cylinders

How to How to
Find the Area of a Shape Find Surface Area

How to How to
Find the Surface Area of a Cube Find the Surface Area of a Sphere

How to How to
Find the Surface Area of a Box Find the Area of a Parallelogram

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com
 Sources and Citations

1. http://nemesis.lonestar.org/reference/measures/nonsquare.html
2. http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/57209.html
3. http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footballdevelopment/technicalsupport/refereeing/laws-of-the-
game/law/newsid=1285960.html
Show more... (1)

Article Info

Categories: Surface Area

In other languages:
Espaol: calcular metros cuadrados, Deutsch: Berechnung eines
Quadratmeters, Portugus: Calcular Metros Quadrados, Italiano: Calcolare i Metri
Quadrati, Franais: calculer une surface en mtres carrs, :
, Nederlands: Vierkante meters berekenen, Bahasa Indonesia: Menghitung Meter
Persegi, : , : (Square Meters) , Ting
Vit: Tnh theo n v Mt vung, :, etina: Jak vypotat rozlohu v metrech
tverench, :
Discuss Print Email Edit Send fan mail to authors

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 1,856,766 times.

Did this article help you?

Yes No

Home About wikiHow Jobs Terms of Use RSS Site map Log In Mobile view
All text shared under a Creative Commons License. Powered by Mediawiki.

converted by W eb2PDFConvert.com