Sunday, July 14, 2013

# he crazy little function called square root! on the GRE

11:07 AM
The symbol " $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{}$" is referred as square root function or radical and the expression $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{x}$is referred as square root of $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} x$. The square root of a number $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} x$ is a number  $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} r$ such that $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} r^2=x$. In other words, $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} r$ is a number whose square is $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} x$.
$\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 2^2=4 \Rightarrow \text{2 is a square root of 4 or } \sqrt{4}=2$
$\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 3^2=9 \Rightarrow \text{3 is a square root of 9 or } \sqrt{9}=3$
The symbol " $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{}$" is referred as square root function or radical and the expression $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{x}$is referred as square root of $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} x$.  Every positive number can potentially have two square roots. One of them is $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{x}$, which is positive, and the other is $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} -\sqrt{x}$, which is negative.  However the square root function of a number always returns a non-negative number i.e. $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{4}=+2$

Only the square root of a perfect square will be a rational number e.g. the square root of 16 is 4 because 16 is a perfect square. However the square root of 3 is not a rational number since 3 is not a perfect square i.e. $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{3}=1.7320..$

You should memorize commonly used perfect squares outlined in the following table
 Number $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 2$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 3$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 4$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 5$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 6$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 7$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 8$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 9$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 10$ Perfect Square $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 4$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 9$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 16$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 25$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 36$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 49$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 64$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 81$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} 100$ Square Root Operation $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{4}=2$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{9}=3$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{16}=4$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{25}=5$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{36}=6$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{49}=7$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{64}=8$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{81}=9$ $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{100}=10$
The square root of a number can also be written in exponent form. The square root of a number is nothing but the number with an exponent of "1/2" e.g. the square root in $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} x$ can also be written in exponent notation as $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} x^{\frac{1}{2}}$
$\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{4}=4^{\frac{1}{2}}=2$
$\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue} \sqrt{9}=9^{\frac{1}{2}}=3$

Example:
Which of the following expressions represents the square root of 45?
A) $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}4 \sqrt{5}$
B) $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}5$
C) $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}3 \sqrt{5}$
D) $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}5 \sqrt{4}$
E) $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}5 \sqrt{5}$
Solution:
The number 45 can be written as 5 × 9. Therefore square root of 45 = $\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}\sqrt{45}

= \sqrt{9 \times 5}$

$\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}\sqrt{9} \times \sqrt{5}$

$\usepackage{color} \definecolor{Myblue}{rgb}{0.27,0.38,0.5} \color{Myblue}3 \sqrt{5}$
Do you Like this: