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The radical symbol refers to the principal value of the square root function called the principal square root, which is the positive one. The two square roots of a negative number are both imaginary numbers , and the square root symbol refers to the principal square root, the one with a positive imaginary part.
√ (square-root symbol) Denotes square root and is read as the square root of. Rarely used in modern mathematics without a horizontal bar delimiting the width of its argument (see the next item). For example, √2. √ (radical symbol) 1. Denotes square root and is read as the square root of.
radical symbol (for square root) 1637 (with the vinculum above the radicand) René Descartes (La Géométrie) % percent sign: 1650 (approx.) unknown
greek beta symbol u+03d1: ϑ: greek theta symbol u+03d2: ϒ: greek upsilon with hook symbol u+03d5: ϕ: greek phi symbol u+03f0: ϰ: greek kappa symbol u+03f1: ϱ: greek rho symbol u+03f4: ϴ: greek capital theta symbol u+03f5: ϵ: greek lunate epsilon symbol u+03f6 ϶ greek reversed lunate epsilon symbol
The laws of arithmetic for negative numbers ensure that the common-sense idea of an opposite is reflected in arithmetic. For example, − (−3) = 3 because the opposite of an opposite is the original value. Negative numbers are usually written with a minus sign in front. For example, −3 represents a negative quantity with a magnitude of ...
The square root of a positive integer is the product of the roots of its prime factors, because the square root of a product is the product of the square roots of the factors. Since p 2 k = p k , {\textstyle {\sqrt {p^{2k}}}=p^{k},} only roots of those primes having an odd power in the factorization are necessary.
A root of degree 2 is called a square root and a root of degree 3, a cube root. Roots of higher degree are referred by using ordinal numbers, as in fourth root, twentieth root, etc. The computation of an n th root is a root extraction. For example, 3 is a square root of 9, since 3 2 = 9, and −3 is also a square root of 9, since (−3) 2 = 9.
Square roots of negative numbers are called imaginary because in early-modern mathematics, only what are now called real numbers, obtainable by physical measurements or basic arithmetic, were considered to be numbers at all – even negative numbers were treated with skepticism – so the square root of a negative number was previously considered undefined or nonsensical.