Square Number — 12² = 144 — free printable diagram

What is 12 squared?

12 squared is 144. Squaring a number means multiplying it by itself, so 12² = 12 × 12 = 144. Read the other way round, the square root of 144 is 12.

Calculation

12² = 12 × 12

Answer

144

In words

one hundred and forty-four

Square root

√144 = 12

Position

the 12th square number

• Squaring means multiplying a number by itself, so 12² = 12 × 12 = 144.
• 144 is called a square number because 144 counters can be arranged in a perfect square of 12 rows with 12 in each row.
• The opposite of squaring is taking the square root, so √144 = 12.
• 12 squared is not 12 × 2. 12 × 2 = 24, but 12² = 144.
• Each square number is the odd numbers added up in order: 144 − 121 = 23, so the gap from 121 to 144 is 23.