GMAT - square root of a number?

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GMAT - square root of a number?

by gmatrant » Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:59 pm
Read the below post by on of the members. In GMAT square root of a number is always positive.
Can some one explain this, I seem a bit lost on the explanation.

So am I saying sqrt(9) = only 3.
what is sqrt(x^2) ==>
what is sqrt(x) ==>


On the GMAT, the square root of a number is ALWAYS positive but when you have x^2, x could be positive or negative. In other words,
Source: — Problem Solving |

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by rohit_gmat » Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:33 pm
gmatrant wrote:In GMAT square root of a number is always positive.
I don't think thats true... where has it been stated anyway?? (Any official source?)

But yes, I have come across questions where one cannot assume that sqrt[x^2] is always positive x ... it is in fact |x|