Square

A square is a quadrilateral with four right angles and four congruent sides, as shown in the figure below. A square is a regular quadrilateral.

In algebra, the square of a number is the number multiplied by itself. For example, the square of n is written as "n2" and is equal to n × n.

Sides of a square

The sides of a square are congruent. Also, the opposite sides of a square are parallel, and the adjacent sides are perpendicular to each other.

In the square below, AB//CD and AD//BC. Also, AD and BC are perpendicular to AB and CD respectively.

Angles of a square

The angles of a square are all congruent and equal to 90°. Accordingly, the external angles of a square are also right angles. In the diagram above, the angles marked with a red square are all right triangles.

Diagonals of a square

A square has two congruent diagonals. The diagonals of a square have special properties:

Special quadrilaterals

A square is a regular quadrilateral. It is also a special case of a parallelogram, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid, and kite:

Symmetry in a square

As a regular quadrilateral, a square has 4 lines of symmetry and a rotational symmetry of order 4, which means that it can be rotated in such a way that it will look the same as the original shape 4 times in 360°.

Line of symmetryRotational symmetry
4 lines of symmetry Four 90° angles of rotation

Area and perimeter of a square

Given that a square has four right angles and four congruent sides, the area and perimeter of a square are:

area = a2

perimeter = 4a

where a is the length of the side.