To tile a floor, you have to know how much area there is to be covered. Area is the measure of the surface inside a flat figure. Area is measured in square units. How do you find the surface area of a floor? You could cut a square foot out of cardboard and see how many times it will fit in the space. But instead, you can measure the length and width of the room and multiply. For example, for a rectangular space, the length times the width equals the surface area of the floor. We express this as a formula:

• Area = length X width

A square is simply a rectangle with sides that are the same length. You can measure one side and multiply by four, but you can also use the formula for finding the area of a square :

• Area =side² or A = s²

The formula for the area of a square uses a special number called an exponent, or power. The variable s stands for the length and side of the square. This number is called the base. The small 2 is the exponent. An exponent tells you how many times to multiply the base by itself. The expression s² is read “s to the second power” or “s squared.” It means “s multiplied by s.”

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