system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What is the area of a square when .5 is the length of each side?

.5 x .5 = .25. How can the total area be less than one of the sides?
gpt
Draw a square that is 1 by 1, area 1 unit.  

Sub-divide it into 4 equal squares.  Each of those smaller squares has a side of 0.5, half the big square.  There are four of them, so each smaller square has an area of 1/4 or 0.25.  

Why can't the numerical value of the area be less than the numerical value of the side?