How do you simplify sqrt(-50)?

1 Answer
Jul 5, 2015

I found: sqrt(-50)=5isqrt(2)

Explanation:

Here you have a problem...
in fact you cannot solve a square root with a negative argument or, better, you cannot find a real number which is solution of your square root.

What you can do it is try to find a solution somewhere else...in the place of imaginary numbers!
First of all you manipulate your root as:
sqrt(-50)=sqrt(-1*2*25)=sqrt(-1)sqrt(25)sqrt(2)=5sqrt(-1)sqrt(2)
you now introduce a new entity: the imaginary unit i given as:
i=sqrt(-1)
so you can write:
sqrt(-50)=5isqrt(2) which is:

1] solution of your problem; in fact if you square it you get:
(5isqrt(2))^2=25*-1*2=-50 that is your original radicand!

2] it is an imaginary number (it contains i).