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square root

square root

11 3.4
A number that when multiplied by itself gives a given number
  • noun
  • /skwɛr ruːt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : raíz cuadrada
  • For example, 7 x 7 = 49, so the square root of 49 is 7.

It turns out that you can do all numbers that just involve fractions and square roots and addition and subtraction.

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Examples

  • What is the square root of 2,396,324?

  • For example, 16 is a perfect square because its square root is 4.

  • It's just going to be the square root of each term.

  • So we can start by taking the square root of both sides.

  • So we can just take the square root of both sides.

  • "What is the square root of 9?"

  • I can find the square root of 27.4 in my head.

  • What's the square root of 81?

  • Patty, which one of these is the square root of 8,649?

  • The sum of the square roots of two sides of an isosceles triangle... ...is equal to the square root of the remaining side.

Surface Forms

square root singular
square roots plural

Morphology

square + root

The meaning is directly compositional: 'square' (raise to the second power) modifies 'root' (a value solving an equation), yielding the number which, when squared, gives the original. This is a standard mathematical formation found across languages and taught early, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent senses will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Square root comes from the idea of a square: the root is the length of its side, and when you multiply that side by itself you get the square's area. So, a square root today is the number you multiply by itself to get the original number.