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According to the information given, if the large square can be divided into 16 small squares, that means that there are only 4 squares on each side of thelarge square, see the picture
here, we can observe 16 squares, ans 4 squares in each row.
So, if each small square measures 1 cm
Area of the large square = 4 x 4 = 16 cm^2
Result
The area of the large square is 16 cm^2