Square Roots - Concept

There are some numbers that we know are perfect squares, like 9 and 16 and 25, because the square root of 9 is 3, the square root of 16 is 4, and the square root of 25 is 5. These are special because their roots are integers. We can find the square root of any number, however- it just might be a decimal (or irrational number, which means non-terminating, non-repeating decimals, like the square root of 3.) We can write a decimal approximation using the square root button on our calculator, but actually writing "root 3" is more accurate because it doesn't involve any rounding. Be careful with negatives- the square root of -100 is what we call an imaginary number, but the negative square root of 100 would be -10. We can find cube roots, too- which is the opposite of cubing a number.