Square, in geometry, is a plane figure that has four equal straight sides and four right (90°) angles. If each side of a square is 4 inches long, the square can be cut into 4 X 4, or 16, smaller squares that have sides 1 inch long. The area of the square equals 16 square inches (see Square measure ). In arithmetic and algebra, the square of a quantity is the product of a quantity by itself. For example, 16 is the square of 4, because 4 X 4 = 16. If b represents any quantity, the square of b, or b X b, is written b2. The small 2 that appears to the right of and above the b is called an exponent. The exponent 2 indicates that the quantity b is to be taken twice as a factor.
