Square Number — 2² = 4 — free printable diagram

What is 2 squared?

2 squared is 4. Squaring a number means multiplying it by itself, so 2² = 2 × 2 = 4. Read the other way round, the square root of 4 is 2.

Calculation

2² = 2 × 2

Answer

4

In words

four

Square root

√4 = 2

Position

the 2nd square number

• Squaring means multiplying a number by itself, so 2² = 2 × 2 = 4.
• 4 is called a square number because 4 counters can be arranged in a perfect square of 2 rows with 2 in each row.
• The opposite of squaring is taking the square root, so √4 = 2.
• Each square number is the odd numbers added up in order: 4 − 1 = 3, so the gap from 1 to 4 is 3.