square root

American  

noun

1. a quantity of which a given quantity is the square.

   The quantities +6 and −6 are square roots of 36 since (+6)×(+6)=36 and (−6)×(−6)=36.

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square root British  

noun

1. a number or quantity that when multiplied by itself gives a given number or quantity

   2 is a square root of 4, usually written √4 or 41/2

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square root Scientific  

1. A number that, when squared, yields a given number. For example, since 5 × 5 = 25, the square root of 25 (written √25) is 5.

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square root Cultural  

1. A number that, when multiplied by itself, will result in a given number. The square root of four is two; the square root of one hundred is ten.

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Discover More

The square roots of many numbers, such as three, are irrational numbers.

Etymology

Origin of square root

First recorded in 1550–60

Example Sentences

I was smiling because I was remembering the square root of eight.

From Los Angeles Times

I soon discovered that he’d made an error involving a square root.

From Literature

“It’s the square root of pi, so take the square root of 3.1416,” Kelly cracked of his team’s chances in that scenario.

From Los Angeles Times

The whole process takes time proportional to the square root of the number of boxes: Increasing that number by a factor of 100 only increases the runtime by a factor of 10.

From Scientific American

England gave them the square root of nothing.

From BBC