WHAT IS A SQUARE SHAPE – MINDSPARK
SQUARE SHAPE
A square is a four-sided polygon (quadrilateral) with equal sides. The opposite sides form a parallel pair. The angle formed by the adjacent sides of a square 90 degrees.
PROPERTIES OF A SQUARE
Following are the properties of a square:
- Square has four sides which are equal and has four vertices.
- All the sides of square are equal. The opposite sides form a parallel pair.
- Adjacent sides form 90 degree angles.
- The sum of all the interior angles is 360 degree.
- When we join the opposite vertices of a square we get its diagonals. Diagonals of a square bisect each other at 90 degree angle.
- The length of the diagonals of a square are equal.
- Parallelogram is a figure that has opposite sides parallel. Therefore a square is also called a parallelogram.
FORMULA OF SQUARE
The perimeter of a square is the sum of all sides of the square. So if we add the length of the sides of the square, we get
Perimeter of a square \mathrm{=s+s+s+s=4 s}
The formula for the perimeter of a square is \mathrm{4 s} where s is the length of the side of the square.
The area of a square =\mathrm{s^{2}} where s is the length of the side of the square.
The length of the diagonals of a square=\mathrm{s \sqrt{2}} where s is the length of the side of the square.
A diagonal divides the square into two congruent triangles and by Pythagoras theorem, we can say that the diagonal is the hypotenuse and the two sides of the triangle are the perpendicular and base. The Pythagoras theorem is:
\text { perpendicular }^{2}+\text { base }^{2}=\text { hypotenuse }^{2}
Therefore it is easy to find the length of a diagonal if we know the value of the side of the square.
A square is also a type of a rectangle but the difference is that a rectangle has only its opposite sides equal, unlike a square which has all its sides equal.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a square?
Ans: A square is a four-sided polygon with all its sides equal to one another and the adjacent sides forming 90 degrees angles.
2. How is a square different from a rectangle?
Ans: A rectangle only has opposite sides equal whereas a square has all sides equal.
3. Why is a square also a rectangle?
Ans: A square is also a rectangle because it satisfies all the properties of a rectangle whereas a rectangle is not a square because a square has all its sides equal but a rectangle has only its opposite sides equal.