When to consider negative value of a square root

[safirshahbaaz90]

Hi Tommy,

For problems involving square roots, when should we consider negative values as well? I understand that for scenarios like age, distance, and so on, we obviously have to consider the positive value but I have seen a few problems(not related to the ones mentioned above) where both positive and negative values were considered but in some examples where only the positive value was used.

Please help!

Thanks and Regards,
Safir

[tommywallach]

Hey Safir,

This is a mathematical issue, I promise, not a contextual one.

The square root of an INTEGER only has one solution. The square root of an UNKNOWN has two solution.

Square root of 16 = 4

x^2 = 16
x = +/-4

Feel free to post any actual question if you feel like these rules aren't enough to work something out, but they should be.

-t

[safirshahbaaz90]

Thanks Tommy! :)

Regards,
Safir

[tommywallach]

Glad to help!

-t