Question 82239: I am having problems with this one I come up with different answers. I have submitted this once before and I was given a totally different answer than even I got or what is in the book.
Evaluate √-100 , if possible.
The book gives me these for possible answers.
8
–8
–32
Not a real number
Answer by Earlsdon(6294)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Evaluate:
The square root of a negative number is not a real number.
You can see why when you ask "What number, when squared, gives a negtive result?"
The answer is, of course, there isn't one...well, not a real one!
Why is that?
When you square a number, you multiply that number by itself, so the numbers will have the same sign (both + or both -).
The rules of multiplication indicate that when you multiply two numbers having the same sign, the answer will alwys be positive.
Therefore, you cannot find a real number by taking the square root of a negative number.
What do you get when you try, for example, to take the square root of -100?
 = 
Now  is called an "imaginary" number and is given the special symbol of "i".
So...
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