Nth root

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In mathematics, an nth root of a number x is a number r (the root) which, when raised to the power of the positive integer n, yields x: $${\displaystyle r^{n}=\underbrace {r\times r\times \dotsb \times r} _{n{\text{ factors}}}=x.}$$

The integer n is called the index or degree, and the number x of which the root is taken is the radicand. A root of degree 2 is called a square root and a root of degree 3, a cube root. Roots of higher degree are referred by using ordinal numbers, as in fourth root, twentieth root, etc. The computation of an nth root is a root extraction.

For example, 3 is a square root of 9, since 3² = 9, and −3 is also a square root of 9, since (−3)² = 9.

The nth root of x is written as ${\displaystyle {\sqrt[{n}]{x}}}$ using the radical symbol or radix ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {\phantom {x}}}}$. The square root is usually written without the n as just ⁠${\displaystyle {\sqrt {x}}}$⁠. Taking the nth root of a number is the inverse operation of exponentiation,^[1] and can be written as a fractional exponent:

$${\displaystyle {\sqrt[{n}]{x}}=x^{1/n}.}$$

For a positive real number x, ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {x}}}$ denotes the positive square root of x and ${\displaystyle {\sqrt[{n}]{x}}}$ denotes the positive real nth root. A negative real number −x has no real-valued square roots, but when x is treated as a complex number it has two imaginary square roots, ⁠${\displaystyle +i{\sqrt {x}}}$⁠ and ⁠${\displaystyle -i{\sqrt {x}}}$⁠, where i is the imaginary unit.

In general, any non-zero complex number has n distinct complex-valued nth roots, equally distributed around a complex circle of constant absolute value. (The nth root of 0 is zero with multiplicity n, and this circle degenerates to a point.) Extracting the nth roots of a complex number x can thus be taken to be a multivalued function. By convention the principal value of this function, called the principal root and denoted ⁠${\displaystyle {\sqrt[{n}]{x}}}$⁠, is taken to be the nth root with the greatest real part and in the special case when x is a negative real number, the one with a positive imaginary part. The principal root of a positive real number is thus also a positive real number. As a function, the principal root is continuous in the whole complex plane, except along the negative real axis.

An unresolved root, especially one using the radical symbol, is sometimes referred to as a surd^[2] or a radical.^[3] Any expression containing a radical, whether it is a square root, a cube root, or a higher root, is called a radical expression, and if it contains no transcendental functions or transcendental numbers it is called an algebraic expression.

Arithmetic operations v t e

Addition (+) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \left.{\begin{matrix}\scriptstyle {\text{term}}\,+\,{\text{term}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{summand}}\,+\,{\text{summand}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{addend}}\,+\,{\text{addend}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{augend}}\,+\,{\text{addend}}\end{matrix}}\right\}\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\text{sum}}}$ Subtraction (−) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \left.{\begin{matrix}\scriptstyle {\text{term}}\,-\,{\text{term}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{minuend}}\,-\,{\text{subtrahend}}\end{matrix}}\right\}\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\text{difference}}}$ Multiplication (×) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \left.{\begin{matrix}\scriptstyle {\text{factor}}\,\times \,{\text{factor}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{multiplier}}\,\times \,{\text{multiplicand}}\end{matrix}}\right\}\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\text{product}}}$ Division (÷) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \left.{\begin{matrix}\scriptstyle {\frac {\scriptstyle {\text{dividend}}}{\scriptstyle {\text{divisor}}}}\\[1ex]\scriptstyle {\frac {\scriptstyle {\text{numerator}}}{\scriptstyle {\text{denominator}}}}\end{matrix}}\right\}\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \left\{{\begin{matrix}\scriptstyle {\text{fraction}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{quotient}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{ratio}}\end{matrix}}\right.}$ Exponentiation (^) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \left.{\begin{matrix}\scriptstyle {\text{base}}^{\text{exponent}}\\\scriptstyle {\text{base}}^{\text{power}}\end{matrix}}\right\}\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\text{power}}}$ nth root (√) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\sqrt[{\text{degree}}]{\scriptstyle {\text{radicand}}}}\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\text{root}}}$ Logarithm (log) ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle \log _{\text{base}}({\text{anti-logarithm}})\,=\,}$ ${\displaystyle \scriptstyle {\text{logarithm}}}$

v t e

Roots are used for determining the radius of convergence of a power series with the root test. The nth roots of 1 are called roots of unity and play a fundamental role in various areas of mathematics, such as number theory, theory of equations, and Fourier transform.