# How many square feet in 49 square miles



## NerdyCavegirl (Jan 29, 2016)

4 things right off the bat. 1: No I can't just use an online converter, they all use javascript and won't work on my phone. 2: This is assuming the area being measured is a square with equal sides. 3: I don't want any crap about my scientific pickiness in fantasy, this has little to do with writing and is not in the research section for that reason, I just want some quick math help. 4: I graduated high school with a low D in 7th grade math, so this post may be amusing and/or confusing. So here goes nothing: I need to know how many square feet are in 49 square miles and I keep running into what seems to be an inconsistency. This children's dictionary from the 80s says 1 sq mi=640 acres, 1 acre=160 sq rods, 1 sq rod=10.25 sq yards, and 1 sq yd=9 sq ft. So first I tried 49*640=31,360 acres, 31,360*160=5,017,600 sq rods, 5,017,600*10.25=51,430,400 sq yds, then 51,430,400*9=462,873,600 sq ft. That's just one possible answer I got. (continued in next post)


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## NerdyCavegirl (Jan 29, 2016)

This dictionary also says 1 mi=5,280 ft, and if I recall correctly, area can be found by multiplying the length by the width of a rectangle. I figure this should mean 49 sq mi perfect square would be 7x7 ft, so then I also tried 7*5,280=36,960 ft and 36,960*36,960=1,366,041,600 sq ft, which is much larger than the first result. So how many square feet are in 49 square miles? 462,873,600? 1,366,041,600? Both in some strange warp of reality I accidentally created? Neither because I don't know what the hell I'm doing? Is there an easier way to convert sq mi to sq ft by hand without 10 different equations?


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## Nimue (Jan 29, 2016)

You just need to find the number of sq ft in a sq mile and multiply that by 49.

5280x5280=27.9 million
49 square miles=1.37 billion square feet.

I'm not sure how you got the other number.  Rods and acres may be subject to rounding error.

What are you using this for in your writing, exactly...?

Edit: Butterfly's answer is incorrect because a square with sides 49 miles by 49 miles is actually 2401 square miles.  A square of 49 square miles would have sides of 7 miles each.

Edit edit: Butterfly's answer was deleted?  I guess I'll just make everything more confusing.


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## Butterfly (Jan 29, 2016)

Yeah, go on... that's right. Tell everyone I got it massively wrong. (I was trying to hide that fact, as I'm not embarrassed about it at all).

I just went with the assumption that the length of each side would be 49 miles each way. I eventually worked out that was the wrong length so deleted it only to find that some other brainbox had posted the correct answer.


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## Sheilawisz (Jan 29, 2016)

Hello everyone!

I love calculating stuff like this. Let's see: 1 Mile is 5280 feet, so first we need to multiply 5280x5280 and the result is 27 878 400 square feet in one square mile. Now we simplify that number to 27.8784 million.

Then we multiply 27.8784x49 and the result is: 1366.0416 million square feet for 49 square miles.

1366041600.


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## Nimue (Jan 29, 2016)

Don't feel bad, I had to go and do the math to figure out why it didn't seem right. ^^;;  I can do calc but really simple math sometimes throws me for a loop.  This brain only accepts words as input right now.


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## Butterfly (Jan 29, 2016)

Two brainboxes now... I'm off to make some cake. I'm sure I can find a tin that's 7x7 inches...


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## Svrtnsse (Jan 29, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> Two brainboxes now... I'm off to make some cake. I'm sure I can find a tin that's 7x7 inches...



I'm having chocolate sauce with ice cream. No, not the other way around. I underestimated the amount of sauce I'd make and overestimated the available amount of ice cream.


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## Butterfly (Jan 29, 2016)

you could always throw in some strawberries to that...


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## Svrtnsse (Jan 29, 2016)

Too late, it's all gone.


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## Incanus (Jan 29, 2016)

Svrtnsse said:


> Too late, it's all gone.



Not really gone though, just in a different, irretrievable place--


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## Svrtnsse (Jan 29, 2016)

Incanus said:


> Not really gone though, just in a different, irretrievable place--



Well, if we're going into technicalities...

... then we'd better not go further.


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## FifthView (Jan 29, 2016)

Well ... if you are talking about nautical miles, it's 1,809,042,478.46 square feet.  Or thereabout.


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## NerdyCavegirl (Feb 1, 2016)

Nope just regular US miles.  Good to know one of my answers was right and that my mathematical ineptitude birthed a discussion on sweetfood. xD It's terrible, I'm highly intelligent in so many things and I've been told so often since I was little that I can't help being an arrogant ass about it, but I have trouble with basic double-digit addition and I think the highest I can count to is my IQ.


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