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Chapter 6: Square Roots and Cube Roots > Finding the Square root through Subtraction of successive odd numbers

Finding the Square root through Subtraction of successive odd numbers

Finding square root through repeated subtraction

Do you remember that the sum of the first n odd natural numbers is n2? That is, every square number can be expressed as a sum of successive odd natural numbers starting from 1.

Consider 81. Then,

81 – 1 =

80 – 3 =

77 – 5 =

Continue this pattern

81 , 80 , , , , ,,, ,
Pattern: “Successively subtract 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ... from it, to get the next one.”

From 81 we have subtracted successive odd numbers starting from 1 and obtained 0 at 9th step. Therefore 81 = .

Can you find the square root of 729 using this method? It is possible but it will be time consuming. Thus, we need a simpler way to find the square roots.

TRY THESE

By repeated subtraction of odd numbers starting from 1, find whether the following numbers are perfect squares or not? If the number is a perfect square then find its square root.

(i)

(i) 121

81 – 1 =

80 – 3 =

77 – 5 =

72 – 7 =

65 – 9 =

56 – 11 =

45 – 13 =

32 – 15 =

17 – 17 =

Yes, it is a perfect square.

(ii)

(ii) 55

55 – 1 =

54 – 3 =

51 – 5 =

46 – 7 =

39 – 9 =

30 – 11 =

19 – 13 =

6 – 15 =

No, it isn't a perfect square.

(iii)

(iii) 36

36 – 1 =

35 – 3 =

32 – 5 =

27 – 7 =

20 – 9 =

11 – 11 =

Yes, it is a perfect square.

(iv)

(iv) 49

49 – 1 =

48 – 3 =

45 – 5 =

40 – 7 =

33 – 9 =

24 – 11 =

13 – 13 =

Yes, it is a perfect square.

(v)

(v) 90

90 – 1 =

89 – 3 =

86 – 5 =

81 – 7 =

74 – 9 =

65 – 11 =

54 – 13 =

41 – 15 =

26 – 17 =

9 – 15 =

No, it isn't a perfect square.