Question

7. Explain in your own words why √-4 is not possible.

Answer 1

There is no real square root of -4 because it is impossible to square any real number and get a negative answer.

You might think -2 could work. However, a negative times a negative is positive → -2(-2) = +4, so the problem would have to be written as
`\sqrt4` instead of
`√(-4)`. Hence, there is no real square root of -4.

Note the word real, as it is possible to find a non-real answer to
`√(-4)` using the imaginary number
`i`, which represents
`√(-1)`.