<p>This number is less than the square root of 2006.</p>
<p>When this number is squared, it equals 2006.</p>
<p>What's the number?</p>
<p>Huh?</p>
<p>My son took a 6 question math test today. This was one of the questions. It was some kind of state competition thing.... not exactly sure.</p>
<p>Sounds like the AMC or one of the tests following it. If he does well he can add it to college apps. :)</p>
<p>I'm so proud. My 14-year-old freshman daughter got it in one minute. Her brother, the senior, said it took him forever before he had the aha moment (his math class is doing these tests all week). Do you want the answer?</p>
<p>Negative 44.788 approximately</p>
<p>My son told me. He only gave me a few seconds. I figured you either get it in about 5 seconds or you spend 1/2 hour on it and break your pencil in frustration . It's a ltitle tricky. Friend of my son told him they always include the calendar year in one of the questions, hence the square root of "2006"</p>
<p>I took that (it's called CML-Califonia Math League) today too! The answer to that question is -(2006^1/2). That is the negative sq. rt. of 2006. Tricky!</p>
<p>Actually, the precise answer is negative root 2006. The "trick" is to remember that the square root of a number should be described as plus or minus (so the square root of 9 is 3 and -3).</p>
<p>Actually, it's not just California Math League. The same contest is given in all states on November 28, with honors for high scoring students within each state and intramural honors within each school.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mathleague.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mathleague.com/</a></p>
<p>I would like to suggest to all parents (including the OP) that it is NEVER a good idea to post a question on the Internet from a contest your child has recently taken unless you are SURE that the rules permit you to disclose the question.</p>
<p>Most contests (including Math League contests) have a provision that allows schools to administer the exam after the usual date, in cases when there is a school schedule conflict (e.g., because school is closed or there's a field trip, etc.)</p>
<p>By posting a contest question shortly after your child has taken a contest, you run the risk of spoiling the experience for other students who may not yet have taken the contest.</p>
<p>The stakes are pretty inconsequential in the case of Math League Contests (since they do not lead to higher level exams as AMC exams do, for example) but I think the principle is still worth observing.</p>
<p>It's great to talk over contest problems with your kids when they come home, but please don't post them to the Internet right away unless you have carefully read the rules about when the problems may be disclosed.</p>
<p>whoops! sorry about that. ok kids, leave the room! Especially a trick question like that.</p>
<p>Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee, this was question 1. For my school, after the test, we usually go over the answers, and then when this kid said he got it wrong, everyone in the room started laughing... =(
So it was kind of funny, and kind of mean, lol</p>
<p>Okay, now, just keep in mind, I haven't taken math since calc in HS, and that was a looonnnggg time ago, and I'm an English major type person.</p>
<p>But, if negative 44 whatever, squared, is 2006, then how can it be less than the square root of 2006. isn't it in fact one of the square roots? So it's not less than itself; it's just less than the other square root.</p>
<p>Okay, the answer to that is probably glaringly obvious--you all can just stop snickering in the back.</p>
<p>I'm just sayin'.......</p>
<p>is it -root(2006) ?</p>
<p>Garland, square roots can't be negative. That's why sqrt(-1) = i, the imaginary number.</p>
<p>I thought that imaginary numbers were square roots of negative numbers, not negative numbers which are then squared. I'm still confused here, apparently. LIke, -2 is a square root of 4, no?</p>
<p>I'm not a math major, but this is what I remember.
[quote]
I thought that imaginary numbers were square roots of negative numbers, not negative numbers which are then squared.
[/quote]
That is correct. So (-2)^2 = 4 but sqrt(-4) /= 2.</p>
<p>Right. So I'm still missing something about this question. Isn't the negative square root of 2006 still a square root of 2006? So it's not less than the square root of 2006; it's just less than one of them.</p>
<p>(coming soon to a theater near you: "When English Majors Try to Parse Math Questions"--oh, the horror.)</p>
<p>garland, I will check the exact wording of the question (now that the tests have been scored and returned to the students).</p>
<p>still waiting to get the wording of the problem, but meanwhile,
this clears it up..... sort of, from a random website...
[quote]
Note that any positive real number has two square roots, one positive and one negative. For example, the square roots of 9 are -3 and +3, since (-3)^2==(+3)^2==9. Any nonnegative real number x has a unique nonnegative square root r; this is called the principal square root and is written r==x^(1/2) or r==sqrt(x). For example, the principal square root of 9 is sqrt(9)==+3, while the other square root of 9 is -sqrt(9)==-3. In common usage, unless otherwise specified, "the" square root is generally taken to mean the principal square root.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I hope I'm not the only one finding this thread headache-inducing. Of course, I know so little about today's math that when S recently left me (in his horrible chicken-scratch printing--yes, he's one of those boys too) a note saying "Passed AMC 12", I thought it meant he was at the movies.</p>
<p>Helimom - I know what you mean! I may have known some of this stuff many many years ago but Just feel a little dim when I look at it now. But thanks to whoever posted the link to the website - my D is involved in this and I really had no clue what is involved so it was interesting to see.</p>
<p>This is one of those questions where if you can identify the ambiguity in the question, you know the right answer.</p>
<p>It's not very hard, though. I can't even begin to answer most of the AMT questions, but I got this one.</p>