Estimating Square Roots

In the last lesson, we learned about perfect square roots. A perfect square root is a number whose square root is an integer (a number that isn't a fraction or decimal).

A number whose square root is not an integer is an imperfect square. When finding the square root of these numbers, the answer will not be an integer - it will be a fraction or decimal.

For example, the square root of 27 is equal to 5.196, and the square root of 215 is equal to 14 2/3.

HOW TO ESTIMATE THE SQUARE ROOT:

(We will use 28 as our example)

Step 1 - Determine which two perfect squares your number falls between. The answer you are looking for will fall between these two numbers.

28 falls between 25 and 36

Step 2: Determine the perfect square number that is closest to the number you are estimating

28 is closer to 25

Step 3: Find the square root of that number. This is your estimation.

The square root of 25 is 5, so the square root of 28 is about 5.