Tuesday, July 06, 2010

ouch: a new one.

on a related note, does anyone know the history behind the radical sign $\sqrt{\hspace{1em}}$ for square roots?

(sometimes i imagine myself enforcing the rule that $\pm\sqrt{\hspace{1em}}$ was a single operation, and students would need to ask special permission to omit the $\pm$ ambiguity in sign.)

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