3/30/2021 Squares and Square Roots

Perfect Squares
Properties of Square Numbers

Properties of square numbers are:

If a number has 0, 1, 4, 5, 6 or 9 in the unit's place, then it may or may not be a square
number. If a number has 2, 3, 7 or 8 in its units place then it is not a square number.
If a number has 1 or 9 in unit’s place, then it’s square ends in 1.
If a square number ends in 6, the number whose square it is, will have either 4 or 6 in
unit’s place.

Finding square of a number with unit's place 5

The square of a number N5 is equal to (N (N + 1)) × 100 + 25, where N can have one or more
than one digit.
For example: 15 = (1 × 2) × 100 + 25 = 200 + 25 = 225
2

2
205 = (20 × 21) × 100 + 25 = 42000 + 25 = 42025

Square Roots
Square Root of a Number

Finding the number whose square is known is known as finding the square root. Finding
square root is inverse operation of finding the square of a number.
For example:
1 = 1,  square root of 1 is 1.
2

2 = 4, square root of 4 is 2.
2

3 = 9, square root of 9 is 3.
2

Estimating the number of digits in the square root of a number

If a perfect square has n digits, then its square root will have   digits if n is even and 
(n+1)
n

2 2

digits if n is odd.
(3+1)
For example: 100 has 3 digits, and its square root(10) has  2
= 2 digits.

Estimating Square Roots

Estimating the Square Root

Estimating the square root of 247:

Since: 100 < 247 < 400

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22310 1/6
3/30/2021 Squares and Square Roots

i.e. 10 < √247 < 20

But it is not very close.
Also, 15 2
= 225 < 247 and 16 2
= 256 > 247

15 < √247 < 16 .

256 is much closer to 247 than 225.
Therefore, √247 is approximately equal to 16.

Introduction to Squares and Square Roots

Introduction to Square Numbers

If a natural number m can be expressed as n , where n is also a natural number, then m is a

2

square number.
Example: 1, 4, 9, 16 and 25.

Finding the Square of a Number

If n is a number, then its square is given as n × n = n . 2

For example: Square of 5 is equal to  5 × 5 = 25

Finding square of a number using identity

Squares of numbers having two or more digits can easily be found by writing the number as
the sum of two numbers.
For example:
2 2
23 = (20 + 3)

       = 20(20 + 3) + 3(20 + 3)

        = 20 + 20 × 3 + 20 × 3 + 3
2 2

        = 400 + 60 + 60 + 9
        = 529

Interesting Patterns
Interesting Patterns

There exists interesting patterns in:

Adding triangular numbers

Numbers between square numbers
Adding odd numbers
A sum of consecutive natural numbers
Product of two consecutive even or odd natural numbers

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22310 2/6
3/30/2021 Squares and Square Roots

Adding Triangular Numbers

Triangular numbers: It is a sequence of the numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, 15 etc. It is obtained by

continued summation of the natural numbers. The dot pattern of a triangular number can
be arranged as triangles.

If we add two consecutive triangular numbers, we get a square number.

Example: 1 + 3 = 4 = 2 and 3 + 6 = 9 = 3 .
2 2

Numbers between Square Numbers

There are 2n non-perfect square numbers between squares of the numbers n and (n + 1),
where n is any natural number.

Example:

There are two non-perfect square numbers (2, 3) between1 2

= 1 and 2 2
= 4 .
There are four non-perfect square numbers (5, 6, 7, 8) between 2 2
= 4 and 3 2
= 9 .

Addition of Odd Numbers

The sum of first n odd natural numbers is n . 2

Example:
2
1 + 3 = 4 = 2

2
1 + 3 + 5 = 9 = 3

Square of an odd number as a sum

Square of an odd number n can be expressed as sum of two consecutive positive integers
2 2

and .
n −1 n +1

2 2
2 2

For example: 3
3 −1 3 +1
2
= 9 = 4 + 5 = +
2 2
2 2

Similarly, 5
5 −1 5 +1
2
= 25 = 12 + 13 = +
2 2

Product of Two Consecutive Even or Odd Natural Numbers

The product of two even or odd natural number can be calculated as, 
(a + 1) × (a − 1) = (a − 1), where a is a natural number, and a − 1, a + 1, are the consecutive
2

odd or even numbers. 

For example:
2
11 × 13 = (12 − 1) × (12 + 1) = 12 − 1 = 144 − 1 = 143

Random Interesting Patterns Followed by Square Numbers

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22310 3/6
3/30/2021 Squares and Square Roots

Patterns in numbers like 1, 11, 111, ... :

2
1 =                         1

2
11 =                    1 2 1

2
111 =                1 2 3 2 1

2
1111 =           1 2 3 4 3 2 1

2
11111 =      1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1

2
11111111 = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Patterns in numbers like 6, 67, 667, ... :

2
7 = 49

2
67 = 4489

2
667 = 444889

2
6667 = 44448889

2
66667 = 4444488889

2
666667 = 444444888889

Pythagorean Triplets
Pythagorean Triplets

For any natural number m > 1, we have (2m) 2

+ (m
2
− 1)
2
= (m
2
+ 1)
2
.
2m , (m 2
− 1) and (m 2
+ 1) forms a Pythagorean triplet.
For m = 2, 2m = 4, m 2
− 1 = 3 and m 2
+ 1 = 5 .
So, 3, 4, 5 is the required Pythagorean triplet.

Square Roots of Perfect Squares

Finding square root through repeated subtraction

Every square number can be expressed as a sum of successive odd natural numbers starting
from one.

The square root can be found through repeated subtraction. To find the square root of a
number n:
Step 1: subtract successive odd numbers starting from one.
Step 2: stop when you get zero.

The number of successive odd numbers that are subtracted gives the square root of that
number. Suppose we want to find the square root of 36.

36 − 1 = 35

35 − 3 = 32

32 − 5 = 27

27 − 7 = 20

20 − 9 = 11

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22310 4/6
3/30/2021 Squares and Square Roots

11 − 11 = 0

Here 6 odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11) are subtracted to from 36 to get 0. 
So, the square root of 36 is 6.

Square Roots - Generalised

Finding Square Root by Long Division Method

Steps involved in finding the square root of 484 by Long division method:
Step 1: Place a bar over every pair of numbers starting from the digit at units place. If the
number of digits in it is odd, then the left-most single digit too will have a bar.
Step 2: Take the largest number as divisor whose square is less than or equal to the number
on the extreme left. Divide and write quotient.

Step 3: Bring down the number which is under the next bar to the right side of the
remainder.

Step 4: Double the value of the quotient and enter it with a blank on the right side.

Step 5: Guess a largest possible digit to fill the blank which will also become the new digit in
the quotient, such that when the new divisor is multiplied to the new
quotient the product is less than or equal to the dividend.

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22310 5/6
3/30/2021 Squares and Square Roots

The remainder is 0, therefore, √484 = 22.

Be More Curious!
Finding Pythagorean Triplets for Any Given Number

If we are given any member of a Pythagorean triplet, then we can find the Pythagorean
triplet by using general form 2m, m – 1, m + 1. 2 2

For example, If we want to find the Pythagorean triplet whose smallest number is 8.
Let, m 2
− 1 = 8 ⇒ m = 3

2m = 6 and m 2
+ 1 = 10

The triplet is 6, 8 and 10.

But 8 is not the smallest number of this triplet.
So, we substitute 2m = 8 ⇒ m = 4
m
2
− 1 = 15 and m 2
+ 1 = 17 .
Therefore, 8, 15, 17 is the required triplet.

https://learn.byjus.com/revision-summaries/22310 6/6