## anonymous 5 years ago Its not possible to find the square root of a negative number. a)True b)False

1. anonymous

true

2. anonymous

thx!

3. anonymous

Depends on if you're talking about real or complex numbers.

4. anonymous

5. anonymous

It bothers me when people just post what the answer is and not explain it. Dawn, if you never learned of imaginary numbers, then the answer should be yes because think of it this way. Can you think of a number that you can square to get a negative number? However, if you have, remember that i = square root of -1 so the answer would be no.

6. anonymous

ok thx and i can tell it bothers u!!

$\sqrt{-4}=2i$ The imaginary operator which is the square root of -1 is used to deal with negative roots. In electronics it is referred to as the "j" operator and it plays an important part indealing with inductive or capacitance reactance.

8. anonymous

oh i see. mkay. (:

9. anonymous

Yeah isn't it awesome and bizarre that numbers that aren't even real (both technically - they are not "real" numbers, and figuratively - you can't "count" an imaginary number on your fingers) are used in actual science and engineering? It blows my mind.

Yes it is awesome. Using the term "imaginary" could make you believe it ain't real! But when you deal with circuiits with resistors (real) and reactance the complex number with its real component and imaginary compent constitute impedance.

11. anonymous

I wish they told me that when I was learning them, because then I would care more. It seemed completely pointless when I was learning about them. And now I am majoring in electrical and computer engineering!

Good luck with that, it is a good field.

13. anonymous

wow. no wonder ur so good at this!