I am like not really well informed about this but wasn’t the square root symbol thingy (√ <- this one) always set to give the positive root? And the power of 1/2 would give both the positive and negative?
Comment on Anon describes experience
livingcoder@programming.dev 1 week ago
I had a similar experience with square roots, writing both the positive and negative answers. It’s wild for a teacher to actively reject correct answers because “that’s not what we learned today” (the negative answers, in my case).
Dave2@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
faint_marble_noise@programming.dev 1 week ago
Yes, it is positive, and power 1/2 is, too. Two solutions emerge from solving equations, even primitive ones, like x^2 = C.
livingcoder@programming.dev 1 week ago
I had to look it up and it looks like you’re right. If only my teacher had spent any effort at all explaining that.
bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
That’s bs and also reminds me of a joke about two mathematicians at a bar:
longish math joke
> Two mathematicians are in a bar. The first one says to the second that the average person knows very little about basic mathematics. The second one disagrees, and claims that most people can cope with a reasonable amount of math. > > The first mathematician goes off to the washroom, and in his absence the second calls over the waitress. He tells her that in a few minutes, after his friend has returned, he will call her over and ask her a question. All she has to do is answer one third x cubed. > > She repeats “one thir – dex cue”? > > He repeats “one third x cubed”. > > She says, “one thir dex cuebd”? > > Yes, that’s right, he says. So she agrees, and goes off mumbling to herself, “one thir dex cuebd…”. > > The first guy returns and the second proposes a bet to prove his point, that most people do know something about basic math. He says he will ask the blonde waitress an integral, and the first laughingly agrees. The second man calls over the waitress and asks “what is the integral of x squared?”. > > The waitress says “one third x cubed” and while walking away, turns back and says over her shoulder “plus a constant!”