How do you find the square root of -300?

1 Answer
Mar 30, 2018

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

First, we can rewrite this expression as:

#sqrt(-300) => sqrt(100 * 3 * -1)#

Next, we can use this rule of radicals to simplify the expression as:

#sqrt(color(red)(a) * color(blue)(b)) = sqrt(color(red)(a)) * sqrt(color(blue)(b))#

#sqrt(color(red)(100) * color(blue)(3) * color(green)(-1)) =>#

#sqrt(color(red)(100)) * sqrt(color(blue)(3)) * sqrt(color(green)(-1)) =>#

#color(red)(10)sqrt(color(blue)(3))sqrt(color(green)(-1)#

The square root of negative 1 is called an imaginary number and can be represented by #i#.

We can rewrite the expression as:

#color(red)(10)sqrt(color(blue)(3))sqrt(color(green)(-1)) =>#

#color(red)(10)sqrt(color(blue)(3))color(green)(i)#

Or

#color(red)(10)color(green)(i)sqrt(color(blue)(3))#