If every positive number has two square roots and you can find the length of the side of a square window by finding a square root of the area, why is there only one answer for the length of a side?

Mathematically, there are always two answers, and one of them is always negative. When you're making real windows with real wood and tools and glass, there's no such thing as negative length, and you ignore the answer that has no physical significance in the real world of screws and glue.

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

Every positive number has two square roots, a positive and a negative. However, in practical applications like determining the length of a square window, only the positive square root is relevant because length cannot be negative. For example, the length of a square window with an area of 16 square units is 4 units.
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Answered by AL2006 | 2024-12-26