In this activity, we will practise estimating square roots.
This table shows the first few whole numbers and their squares.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
1 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 36 | 49 | 64 | 81 | 100 |
This means that the √81 = 9 and √100 = 10.
It also means that the square root of any number between 81 and 100 lies between 9 and 10.
We can estimate the square roots of numbers between the square numbers.
√7 is between √4 and √9 ie. 2 and 3.
So √7 is approximately 2.6 (7 is nearer to 9 than to 4)
√59 is between √49 and √64 between 7 and 8.
It is nearer to 8, so we could say it is approximately 7.7
Let's have a go at some questions.