Hello student, Please find the answer to your question below we need to count how many neighboring squares have a common side. 1. We have 4 corner squares with 2 neighbors each 2. we have 4 sides with 6 squares on each side with 3 neighbors each 3. we have 6*6 squares in the center with 4 neighbors =(4*2 + 4*6*3 + 6*6*4)=8+72+144=224