Square roots and cube roots
In a nutshell
Square roots and cube roots are the inverses of the square and cube operations.
Square roots
The square root of a number, x, is denoted as x. A square root is defined as follows:
If x=y2, then x=y.
In other words, finding the square root of x is the same thing as asking what number becomes x when multiplied by itself?
Key facts to know about square roots
- The square root of a number is always defined to be positive.
- The square root of a negative number does not exist.
Finding square roots
Square roots can either by found by memorising square numbers, or by using a calculator.
Example 1
What is the square root of 36?
You should know that 62=6×6=36. Therefore, 36=6.
Example 2
What is the square root of 85?
Use the button on your calculator:
85=9.219544457...
Cube roots
The cube root of a number, x, is denoted as 3x. A cube root is defined as follows:
If x=y3, then 3x=y.
In other words, finding the cube root of x is the same as asking what number, when cubed, becomes x?
Key facts to know about cube roots
- You can cube root negative numbers.
- The cube root of a negative number is negative.
Finding cube roots
Cube numbers can be very large for even smaller numbers. So, in most cases, you will have to use your calculator to find cube roots.
Example 3
What is the cube root of 512?
83=8×8×8=512, so 3512=8.
Example 4
What is the cube root of −100?
Use the 3 button on your calculator:
3−100=−4.641588834...