In secondary school the most interesting idea before meeting complex numbers were the square root $\sqrt{ \phantom x}$ . Did anyone here have any idea about its origin and why they had to invent it?
2026-04-08 09:08:17.1775639297
Where did the idea of square root comes from
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The Babylonians knew how to solve some quadratic equations.
The Greek geometers knew the Pythagorean theorem. They knew there is no rational number whose square is $2$.
So both of these mathematical cultures knew some useful (to them) things about squares, and about whether particular quantities were squares. Whether they had the concept of "extracting a square root" is a question for historians of mathematics. I'm pretty sure that even if they did they didn't have a symbol for it, or think of it in contemporary terms as a function.