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Math - Questions and Answers from our Archives  Square roots
Date: 27 Nov 94 12:11:58 EST  From: Kathy Charner Subject: For
Sydney  Dear Dr.Math,  What are square roots and how do they
work?  P.S. Thanks!  Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 21:59:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Dr. Sydney Subject: Re: For Sydney  Dear Sam,  Hey there!
How are you doing?  I'm so glad you wrote to Dr. Math -- you
asked a GREAT question.  I'm very impressed that you are already
thinking about square roots--you are indeed a budding
mathematician.   Before I answer your question about square
roots, I think it would be best to first talk about square
numbers.  Do you know what a square number is?  A square number
is what you get when you multiply a whole number by  itself. For
instance, since 3 x 3 = 9, 9 is a square number.  Likewise,  16
is a square number since 4 x 4 = 16.  Can you think of some
other  square numbers?    Taking the square root of a number is
the opposite operation (in math