How do you solve #w^2 = 4# where w is a real number?
1 Answer
To solve this, you have to think about what get rids of a square root.
Think about the number 16...
Another way to think about it this is that taking a sqare root of something means the same thing as taking that number to the power of
So,
Square root both sides to get x alone:
Notice that w can equal two real numbers: +2 and -2. The positive root is quite intuitive- But the negative root also holds true, because when you mutiply two negative numbers, you get a positive number.