Square root means to find the number that, multiplied by its self, will give the answer youre looking for..
12 x 12 = 144
if it helps, you can make a factor tree..
144
2 x 72
2 x 2 x 36
2 x 2 x 2 x 18
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 9
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x 3
then to find the root,
(3 x 2 x 2) and (3 x 2 x 2)
12 and 12 are your answers which means that 12 is your square root.
to make it simplified in radical form, make a factor tree of 12.
12
2 x 6
2 x 2 x 3
then count how many of each number you have, so
two 2s and one 3
which can also be written as 2^2 x 3, which is your answer.
Hope this helped