How do you solve $10x^2 = 250$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2015-08-06T11:33:55

You can begin by dividing both sides by $10$ . This is allways allowed in an equation.

Now you have $x^2=25$ , or
"find the number that will give $25$ when squared"

You would be tempted to take the square root:
$x=sqrt25=5$ , but that is only half the answer, because:
$5^2=25$ but also $(-5)^2=25$

In questions like this, always look for the negative root.

How do you solve 10x^2 = 25010x^2 = 250?