> Or is someone teaching that "X units squared" is a valid way of specifying a square room of X units per side? I've been taught that this is standard usage,

> Or is someone teaching that "X units squared" is a valid way of specifying a square room of X units per side? I've been taught that this is standard usage, and I've seen it elsewhere. Personally, I've gone out of my way not to write this way because, as you experienced, a good fraction of people will not be familiar with it.