Explain what positive-negative square roots are.

I'm in 8th grade and have a test soon, and I need help understanding this concept.

OK. Here we go:
What is the square root of 9 ?
You would say that 3 is, and you're correct. But that's NOT the only one there is !
What about -3 ?
What do you get when you multiply (-3) times (-3) ?
(Remember that when the signs of both numbers are the same , the answer is positive.)
(-3) times (-3) = 9
So -3 is also the square root of 9 .
That's right . . . every number has two square roots. They're both the same number, but one is positive, and one is negative. When you multiply either one of them by itself, you get the original number.
Another way to say the same thing is: Every number has one positive square root and one negative square root, and except for the signs, they're both the same number.

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

Positive-negative square roots refer to the two square roots of a positive number: one positive and one negative. For instance, the square roots of 9 are 3 and -3. The concept also extends to imaginary numbers for negative square roots, which are not real.
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Answered by AL2006 | 2024-12-26