What does a number need to be "square"?

Answer by  john11 (617)

Every real number has a square: -4*-4=16. But, it is not true that every number is the square of something in the real number domain; the number -16 is not the squared value of any real number. Perhaps you mean perfect squares, which have rational square roots, like 16 .

Answer by  CR125 (396)

All numbers are in fact a square of something. Most math classes however concentrate on perfect squares, where a number times itself equals a new number. If you try to take a number's square root that isn't perfect, however, you will get an irrational number or decimal.