Rational Numbers and Square Roots
Date: 10/07/98 at 18:55:40 From: Will Chase Subject: Rational numbers and square roots Our teacher told us to find all the rational numbers we could containing a sqrt symbol. To do this I could only think of sqrt4, sqrt9, sqrt16, sqrt25, etc. Are there other things that could go under the sqrt symbol that would be considered rational?
Date: 10/08/98 at 12:23:12 From: Doctor Peterson Subject: Re: Rational numbers and square roots Hi, Will - How about 1/4, for example? Try squaring any rational number, and put it under a sqrt! Of course, I hope you recognize that numbers don't contain sqrts - only representations of numbers do! Any rational number that can be written with a sqrt can also be written without one; that's the definition of rational. So your sqrt(4) is really 2, and doesn't need any sqrt. - Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
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