First, some background: 

The U.S. Congress in 1785 divided the country into a huge grid. When a county was established, this system helped divide the county’s area into townships.  The north-south lines of the township grid were labeled range lines and the east-west lines township lines.  The east-west rows of townships are known as township tiers.

The north-south range lines are spaced six miles apart from each other; the township lines are also spaced six miles apart. Therefore, each township has a 24-mile perimeter, and a 36 square mile area, or a total of 23,040 acres. (There are 640 acres per square mile.)

Each township is also divided into sections, which are each one square mile, making a total of 36 sections (36 sq mi) for each township, which makes each section 640 acres.

So, here is the first question:

Look at a map of Holding Township.  How many sections do you see? 

Here is the second question:

Do you know why our township has 42 sections instead of 36?  

(Resource: EXAM SCHOLAR/Real Estate Edition https://www.realestateexamscholar.com/townships-sections-and-the-government-survey-system-explained/