To convert from square miles to square feet, what operation will you use

The correct one is multiplication.

- - Take the number of square miles.

- - Multiply it by the fraction (5,280 feet / 1 mile) ².

- - After canceling things where possible, simplifying, and

cleaning up the product, what you have is the same area

expressed in square feet.

Multiplication because to convert from a larger unit, miles, to a smaller unit, feet, you multiply the number of miles by the number of feet in a mile to get the total number of feet.