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A square root of 0 is either 0 or a zero divisor. Thus in rings where zero divisors do not exist, it is uniquely 0. However, rings with zero divisors may have multiple square roots of 0. For example, in /, any multiple of n is a square root of 0.
The square root symbol refers to 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 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.
An illustration of the complex plane. The imaginary numbers are on the vertical coordinate axis. Although the Greek mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria is noted as the first to present a calculation involving the square root of a negative number, [6] [7] it was Rafael Bombelli who first set down the rules for multiplication of complex numbers in 1572.
For example, the square root of 2 is an irrational number, but it is not a transcendental number as it is a root of the polynomial equation x 2 − 2 = 0. The golden ratio (denoted or ) is another irrational number that is not transcendental, as it is a root of the polynomial equation x 2 − x − 1 = 0.
A square root of a number x is a number r which, when squared, becomes x: =. Every positive real number has two square roots, one positive and one negative. For example, the two square roots of 25 are 5 and −5. The positive square root is also known as the principal square root, and is denoted with a radical sign:
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0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity.Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers, as well as other algebraic structures.