The square metre (International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m² (33A1 in Unicode). It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one metre. The square metre is derived from the SI base unit of the metre, which itself is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in absolute vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.