Square roots are always nonnegative: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
|||
| Line 4: | Line 4: | ||
'''Square Root''' is a function, and a function cannot have two different answers for one input. Technically <math>-4</math> and <math>4</math> are "square roots" of <math>16</math>, but the square root function only represents one of them--the nonnegative answer. | '''Square Root''' is a function, and a function cannot have two different answers for one input. Technically <math>-4</math> and <math>4</math> are "square roots" of <math>16</math>, but the square root function only represents one of them--the ''nonnegative'' answer. | ||
Revision as of 21:10, 4 February 2025
Square roots are always nonnegative
Many people around the world get confused, thinking that
and
are the same. Though both of these are similar, one of them only has one answer. If we take
, we can see that it has
answers;
and
. On the other hand,
only has one.
Square Root is a function, and a function cannot have two different answers for one input. Technically
and
are "square roots" of
, but the square root function only represents one of them--the nonnegative answer.