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Using hectares

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Area, volume and surface area

Using hectares

Square metres are fine for a room, hopeless for a farm. A hectare is a square of side 100 m — roughly two football pitches — and it is how land is measured.

A hectare is a square field of side 100 m1 ha10 000 m²100 m100 m≈ a football pitchha → m²: × 10 0002.4 ha = 24 000 m²m² → ha: ÷ 10 000125 000 m² = 12.5 ha
Land is measured in hectares — 1 ha = 10 000 m².

What a hectare is

A HECTARE is the area of a square field with sides of 100 metres. Its abbreviation is ha. 100 × 100 = 10 000 1 hectare (ha) = 10 000 m² A football pitch is about half a hectare, which gives you something to picture.

Converting both ways

Hectares → square metres: MULTIPLY by 10 000. 2.4 ha = 2.4 × 10 000 = 24 000 m² Square metres → hectares: DIVIDE by 10 000. 125 000 m² = 125 000 ÷ 10 000 = 12.5 ha Hectares are the bigger unit, so there are always fewer of them.

Land problems in three steps

A rectangular field measures 850 m by 1.4 km. What is its area in hectares? 1. Get both sides into the same unit: 1.4 km = 1400 m. 2. Find the area in m²: 850 × 1400 = 1 190 000 m². 3. Convert to hectares: 1 190 000 ÷ 10 000 = 119 ha. Always convert the lengths BEFORE you multiply. Mixing metres and kilometres in one multiplication gives nonsense.

Worked examples

2.4 ha in square metres

  1. Multiply by 10 000.
  2. 2.4 × 10 000 = 24 000.

Answer: 24 000 m²

125 000 m² in hectares

  1. Divide by 10 000.
  2. 125 000 ÷ 10 000 = 12.5.

Answer: 12.5 ha

A field 850 m by 1.4 km, in hectares

  1. 1.4 km = 1400 m.
  2. 850 × 1400 = 1 190 000 m².
  3. 1 190 000 ÷ 10 000 = 119.

Answer: 119 ha

Why is 1 ha = 10 000 m²?

  1. A hectare is a square of side 100 m.
  2. 100 × 100 = 10 000.

Answer: Because 100 × 100 = 10 000

A square field of side 300 m, in hectares

  1. 300 × 300 = 90 000 m².
  2. 90 000 ÷ 10 000 = 9.

Answer: 9 ha

Half a hectare in square metres

  1. 1 ha = 10 000 m².
  2. 10 000 ÷ 2 = 5000.

Answer: 5000 m² — about a football pitch

Where you see this in real life

  • Farms are advertised in hectares, because the number stays small enough to compare at a glance.
  • Reports on deforestation count hectares lost per year, so different countries can be compared on one scale.

Key words

Hectare
the area of a 100 m square, 10 000 m², written ha
Square metre
the area of a 1 m square, written m²
Convert
change a measurement into different units
Land area
the ground a field or plot covers
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