Video Transcript
Find the value of the square root
of 144.
In this question, we are asked to
evaluate the square root of a number. And there are a few ways that we
can do this. Let’s start by recalling what is
meant by the square root of a number.
We say that the square root of 𝑎
is equal to 𝑏 if 𝑏 is nonnegative and 𝑏 squared is equal to 𝑎. In other words, the square root of
𝑎 is the nonnegative number whose square is 𝑎. Therefore, if we say that the
square root of 144 is equal to a nonnegative value 𝑏, then we must have that 144 is
equal to 𝑏 squared. We can note that 144 is 12
squared. So 𝑏 equals 12 is the nonnegative
number whose square is 144. Hence, the square root of 144 is
equal to 12.
It is worth noting that this is not
the only way that we can answer this question. We can also recall that if 𝑎 is a
nonnegative number, then the square root of 𝑎 squared is just equal to 𝑎. We can use this result by once
again noting that 144 is 12 squared. So the square root of 144 is equal
to 12.
