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Middle School Archive

Browse Middle School Square Roots
Stars indicate particularly interesting answers or good places to begin browsing.

Selected answers to common questions:
    Square roots without a calculator.
    Table of squares & square roots, 1-100.

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2 Divided by the Square Root of 2 [11/10/1995]

Why does 2/sqrt 2 = sqrt 2 ?

Adding Square Roots [12/26/2001]

What is the square root of 3 + the square root of 27?

Finding Roots with a Scientific Calculator [05/15/2000]

How do you calculate the 8th root, or any other root, of a number using a scientific calculator?

Finding Square Roots [09/06/1998]

Can you explain why the algorithm for finding square roots works, without using algebra?

Finding square roots [6/17/1996]

How do you find the square root of a number?

Formula for Calculating Square Roots [1/28/1995]

What is the formula for calculating square roots?

Longhand Square Roots [03/30/1998]

How do you find the square root of any number? Is there an easy formula?

Opposite of an Exponent [05/18/1997]

What is the opposite of an exponent?

Square root of -1 [11/8/1994]

Hey Dr. Math - Do you know the square root of -1?

Square Root of 3 [5/31/1996]

What is the square root of 3?

Square Root of 64 [6/20/1996]

I would like to know the square root of 64.

Square Roots and Exponents [2/2/1996]

What is a "square root" of something? What are "powers to 7"?

Square Roots: Estimate, Divide, Average [02/04/1997]

Is there a longhand-division-and-guess method for finding square roots?

Square Roots: Guess, Divide, Average [6/23/1996]

Is there a formula for finding square roots?

12 a Square Number? [11/07/2002]

Is 12 a square number? If it is, what is the square root of 12?

9x^2 = 64 [03/22/2003]

I am trying to figure out what 9x^2 = 64 is.

Adding Radicals [9/11/1996]

How do I add radicals that aren't roots of perfect squares?

Bakhshali Formula [12/15/2002]

I came across this formula for calculating square roots by hand.

Calculating 4th Roots, 5th Roots... [05/05/1999]

Is there an easy way to calculate roots of any given depth?

Calculators and Irrational Numbers [05/02/2001]

When I square the square root of 11 on any calculator, I get the answer 11 (exactly). That seems to indicate that the square root of 11 is a rational number, but it's not. Can you explain this?

Computing Square Roots Manually [03/05/1998]

Using the bisection method to compute square roots manually.

Conventions of Square Roots [11/24/1998]

I think that the square root of 81 equals positive or negative 9, but my teacher says that it is just positive 9...

Decimal Square Roots [10/19/1998]

Is there any way to get a terminating decimal answer to a square root without taking the square root of a perfect square?

Definition of Negative Square Roots [03/08/2004]

I know that the square root of 49 = 7 since 7 x 7 = 49. But the negative square root of 49 is -7. Is this because (-7) x (-7) also equals 49 or because the square root of 49 is 7 and the negative stays because it is not involved with the operation? My teacher wrote -SQRT(49) = -7 because (-7) x (-7) = 49.

Dividing and Multiplying Radicals [03/07/1999]

How do you multiply the square root of 3/4 by the square root of 4/5?

Dividing Radicals [02/15/1999]

How do you simplify 7 sqrt32 / (5 sqrt63) ?

Edge of a Cube Given Volume [10/06/1997]

I am a teacher currently teaching volume to a class of Grade 5 pupils.

Exact Answers for Square Roots [04/16/2006]

My teacher says that one of the problems with using calculators is that you don't always get exact answers. I don't understand why. Aren't calculators accurate?

Finding a Square Root by Reasoning [11/18/2004]

What's the square root of 40,000,000? I can't figure it out.

Finding Square Roots [02/07/2002]

I would like to know what the square root of 3612 is.

Fractional Exponents [12/07/2003]

When a number is raised to a power like 4/3 or 3/5, how is it done?

How Can the Product of Two Radicals Be Finite? [06/27/2006]

How is it possible that sqrt(5) * sqrt(20), each of which is by itself an infinite number, can make exactly 10 when they are multiplied?

How to Pronounce a Fraction of a Percentage [07/07/2005]

Is it correct to say "one tenth of one percent" as opposed to saying "one tenth percent" for 0.1%? Why or why not?

Irrational Equations [06/02/2002]

I know what a rational equation is, but what's an irrational equation?

Is 14798678562 or 15763530163289 a Perfect Square? [12/08/2002]

Examine both the units digits and the digital roots of perfect squares to help determine whether or not a given number is a perfect square.

Line Segment Representing Sqrt(3) [10/07/2002]

Draw a line segment that represents radical 3.

Manual Method for Finding Square Roots [9/11/1995]

I'm looking for a manual method to find a square root of a number. Many years ago we were taught how to do it, but my memory is failing me, and with the calculator it's too easy.

Mental Math Tricks - Finding Two Digit Square Roots [12/03/2003]

Do you know if there is any trick behind looking at a number which is the result of a two digit number having been squared and being able to tell what the number was that was squared?

Method to Find Square Root of Pi [03/30/1997]

How do I calculate the square root of Pi?

Multiplying a Number by Itself [02/27/2001]

I understand square roots, but why multiply a number by itself?

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