Using Square Roots to Solve Equations

Students learn to use square roots to solve equations. For example, to solve the equation x^2 = 49, take the square root of both sides, to get x = +7 or x = -7. Note that both the positive and negative square root are used, because each value creates a true statement when it is substituted back into the original equation for x. To solve the equation n^2 + 6 = 106, the first step is to isolate the n^2 term by subtracting 6 from both sides, to get n^2 = 100, then take the square root of both sides, to get n = +10 or n = -10.