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Totally off topic - and because I'm waiting for paint to dry......... can you guys help with this conundrum..??

 

I'm having a debate with my eldest daughter about the difference between 'Thirty Square Meters' and 'Thirty Meters Square'

 

She maintains that they are one and the same, whereas I say that Thirty Square Meters is an area of, say 5m X 6m (or 10 X 3 etc) and Thirty Meters Square - which is an area of 30m X 30m i.e. 900 Sqare Meters !!

 

Who is right?? (and if it is me, how do I prove it??? )

 

Bored of Lea

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For me, one letter makes all the difference.

30 metres square means an area 30 metres x 30 metres (900 square metres)

 

30 metres squared means an area encompassing no more than 30 square metres.

 

Whether your daughter will agree with or accept that argument is not something I can control 🙂

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You are most definitely correct.  I’ve seen lots of people make this mistake, one example was where a guy ordered  turf for his garden saying in needed 40 m sq. He did initially think it was expensive to turf a lawn but didn’t know any better, it took some persuading to convince him he had his measurements wrong. 

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3 hours ago, Flankerman said:

Who is right?? (and if it is me, how do I prove it??? )

This might help, http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/57209.html

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Meters Squared vs. Square Meters

Date: 11/18/2001 at 20:31:58 From: Paul Thompson Subject: Definition of meters squared My wife is a teacher and we have had a disagreement over the definition of meters squared. She says that a rectangle 3 meters by 4 meters equals 12 meters squared. I say it is 12 "square meters," and that 12 meters squared would be a square measuring 12 meters on each side (or a total of 144 square meters). Who is right? This is important because she doesn't want to incorrectly advise her students.

 

 

Although, in the end, it kind of ends the same was as this one, https://www.mrsphysics.co.uk/blog/difference-between-square-metres-and-metres-squared/

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However, common parlance is commonly improperly used to describe scientific parameters, and these words without clear meaning cause confusion.

Most people don’t discriminate – though metrologists, and people who set and mark exam papers take care to get it right.

I am sure people passionate about English who know dictionary meaning of words are similarly riled by common misuse.

 

 

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Two thoughts:

 

To avoid confusion write 30 m2 (with the 2 as a superscript, don't know how to do that in this editor)

 

Also it may be explained similar to how English and, say, Spanish are different wrt the order of adjectives and nouns.  In English one might say "the red house" and in Spanish "la casa roja" or "the house red"

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Describing mathematics with language does indeed create confusion. But, your explanation is more consistent with informed usage. Particularly with the turf example listed above!

 

The key is to never rely on these subtleties, especially where your wallet is concerned. 🙂

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5 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

²

Habu, copy this and paste it into your post.

 

<Alt>0178 will get you the code if you're using anything Windows.


I was on my stupid smart phone, no ALT key here...

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