# How do I find the perimeter of a square if I know its area?

Nov 1, 2017

Take a square root, then multiply it by 4.

#### Explanation:

The defining characteristic of a square is that its length is equal to its width. Take a look below:

So, for this particular square, the area is $\text{length" * "width}$, or $x \cdot x = {x}^{2}$. Now, how can you go from this to perimeter?

Well, the formula for perimeter is simply 2 times length + 2 times width. In the case of our square, this would simply be $2 x + 2 x$ (since length = width), or $4 x$.

Therefore, if given an area, all you'd do is take the square root (to get from ${x}^{2}$ to $x$, and then multiply by 4 to find perimeter.

Hope that helped :)

Nov 1, 2017

$s = \sqrt{A}$

$P = 4 \times s$

#### Explanation:

To find the perimeter of square, you just need to know the length of one side, because in a square all the sides are the same length.

If you know the area, find the square root of it to find the side.

${s}^{2} = A$

$\therefore s = \sqrt{A}$

Now you multiply by $4$

For example, if the area is $36 c {m}^{2}$

$A = 36$

$s = \sqrt{36} = 6$

$P = 4 \times 6 = 24$