at

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

Please read the following sentence:

At about 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles)...

What does "at" here mean? Does it collocate with kilometres?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

[5jj]

Please give more context - at least a complete sentence.

[Raymott]

Dear teachers,

Please read the following sentence:

At about 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles)...

What does "at" here mean? Does it collocate with kilometres?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

It means "at a certain level" in whatever units are being used.
"At 9.6 sq. km., my farm is bigger than yours."
"At 17, Mary is two years older than Alice"
"At 400 degrees Celsius, Venus is too hot for people to live on."

[jiang]

Hi Raymott,

Thank you very much for your explanation. Now I understand it.

Jiang

It means "at a certain level" in whatever units are being used.
"At 9.6 sq. km., my farm is bigger than yours."
"At 17, Mary is two years older than Alice"
"At 400 degrees Celsius, Venus is too hot for people to live on."