A. 3 meter square area
B. 3 square meter area
I’m wondering what the easiest way is to clearly express the difference between A and B above.
In A, one side is 3 (meters). In B, one side is the square root of 3 (meters).
Also, can both A and B be expressed with all the modifiers on the left, such as with hyphens? Or would word order such as the following be required for A?
area of 3 meters squared
Best Answer
A. 3-meter-square area & B. 3-square-meter area is what you are after; the hyphens bind together all the elements they connect into a single adjectival unit of meaning.
Area of 3 meters squared would not take the hyphens, because that expression is constructed in such a manner that its elements are not bound together in the same way.