Area
"s"
What it is
Area is a measure of the size of a closed surface. We need to know the area when
we paint walls and plant crops. Area is a very subtle concept. It implies the
existence of two orthogonal space dimensions with otherwise identical qualities.
History
The ancient civilizations of Sumer and Egypt understood the concept of area as
they measured and allocated fields based on area.
Euclid (330-275 BC) developed geometry that deals with areas.
Pythagoras (580-500 BC) studied geometric areas intensively.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) developed calculus and used it to calculate the
areas of complex shapes.
Common equations
Area = height * width
Units
square inches
square meters
acres
barns
township
hectares
circular mil
Editorial comments