SOLUTION: a. what is the inverse of squaring a number? b. the principal square root of 144 is 12. what is the other square root of 144?______ please help

Algebra ->  Problems-with-consecutive-odd-even-integers -> SOLUTION: a. what is the inverse of squaring a number? b. the principal square root of 144 is 12. what is the other square root of 144?______ please help       Log On


   

Question 252545: a. what is the inverse of squaring a number?
b. the principal square root of 144 is 12. what is the other square root of 144?______
please help
Answer by JimboP1977(311) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Well inverse means "opposite". So the opposite of squaring a number is taking its square root. For example 2 squared is written as 2%5E2 which equals 4. So the PRINCIPAL square root of 4 can be written as sqrt%284%29 which is equal to 2.
Principal root means the main position root of a number. However remember that when two negative numbers are multiplied together they give a positive number. Therefore square roots of positive real numbers always have two roots: a negative and a positive. So the other root of 144 is -12.