• Opisek@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    So close yet so far. If only you had read ONE more paragraph.

    Every nonnegative real number x has a unique nonnegative square root, called the principal square root or simply the square root (with a definite article, see below), which is denoted by √x where the symbol “√” is called the radical sign or radix.

    • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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      8 days ago

      This sentence made no sense to me as it directly contradicted the previous one. But it’s just a confusion on my part between the function called square root, which confusingly outputs two different numbers called “square roots”, and “the” number called square root; I’ve edited my comment. Thanks for correcting me!

      • Opisek@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        Yeah, I see how that can happen. Very confusing to have the same name for two things differentiated only by the use of a definite or indefinite article.