Which of the following is true about the principal square root of a number. A. Always positive B. Always negative C. Sometimes positive D. Sometimes negative
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Which of the following is true about the principal square root of a number. A. Always positive B. Always negative C. Sometimes positive D. Sometimes negative
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Answer:
The answer is "C. Sometimes positive, sometimes negative".
A square root is a mathematical operation that calculates the positive value that, when multiplied by itself, produces the given number. For example, the square root of 16 is 4, because 4 multiplied by itself equals 16.
However, not all numbers have a positive square root. For example, the square root of -16 is 4i, where i is the imaginary unit that is defined as the square root of -1. Therefore, the principal square root of -16 is 4i, not 4.
So, the square root of a number may be positive or negative, depending on the number itself. In general, the square root of a number that is greater than 0 is positive, while the square root of a number that is less than 0 is negative or imaginary, depending on whether the number itself is negative or not.