Sections to Square Yards (section to yd²)

1 section equals 3,097,612.39 square yards (rounded).

1 section = 3,097,612.39 square yards

How to convert sections to square yards

To convert sections to square yards, multiply the number of sections by 3,097,612.39. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply square yards by 3.228292872×10⁻⁷ (rounded).

square yards = sections × 3,097,612.39

Example: 10 sections = 30,976,123.9 square yards.

About these units

Section (section)

US land surveyTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

One square US survey mile (640 acres). The basic unit of the US Public Land Survey System.

Under the Land Ordinance of 1785, territory outside the existing states could not be sold or settled until it had been surveyed, and the basic parcel of that grid was the section: a square mile, about 2.6 square kilometers, holding 640 acres. Thirty-six of them make a township. Numbering runs back and forth in a snaking pattern, starting with section 1 in the northeast corner and ending with section 36 in the southeast.

Sections were meant to be cut into smaller pieces. A quarter section is 160 acres, and the Homestead Act of 1862 let a settler claim that amount after living on it and improving it for five years. Quarter-quarters of 40 acres are still used in legal descriptions. Section 16 was set aside to fund local schools, and in several western states section 36 was added too. In practice few sections are perfect squares, because the curve of the Earth, compass errors and rough terrain bent the lines, and the original survey monuments still take legal precedence over later measurement.

1 section = 2,589,998.47 square meters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Section (United States land surveying); Wikipedia: Public Land Survey System

Square Yard (yd²)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

9 square feet (0.8361 m²). Used for carpet, turf and land in the UK and India (where it is called a gaj).

Branches and rods lie behind this unit. The word yard comes from Old English gerd or gyrd, meaning a staff or measuring rod, and it first appears in the late seventh-century laws of Ine of Wessex, where a yard of land was a tax unit. Where its length came from is uncertain: pacing, the cubit and the arm of King Henry I have all been suggested. A square yard is simply a square of that length on each side.

After the 1959 agreement among six countries fixed the yard at exactly 0.9144 meter, the square yard became exactly 9 square feet, 1,296 square inches or about 0.836 m². It is used across the English-speaking world, notably in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India and Pakistan. In northern India it is called a gaj, and in Pakistan a gaz, and house plots there are often quoted in it. In the US and UK the yard, divided into eighths, is also how cloth is bought, so the square yard suits flooring and fabric in the same breath.

1 square yard = 0.83612736 square meters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Square yard; Wikipedia: Yard; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8: conversion factors

Related conversions

See all area units.