Square and
Square Roots
Updated as of JAN 2021
QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE
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Square and Square Roots
Square Number
• If any natural number p can be expressed as q2, where q is also a natural number,
then p is known as a square number. The square numbers are also called “Perfect
Squares”.
Example:
Let p = 49 which can be expressed as 72, where 7 is a natural number.
Therefore, 49 is a Perfect square.
Square of some natural numbers are given below
Number Square
1 1
2 4
3 9
4 16
5 25
6 36
7 49
8 64
9 81
10 100
11 121
12 144
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Number Square
13 169
14 196
15 225
16 256
17 289
18 324
19 361
20 400
Properties
1. The unit’s place of square number can be 0, 1, 4, 5, 6 or 9. No square number can
end with 2, 3, 7 or 8.
2. If a number has 1 or 9 in unit place then the square of that number will end with 1.
Number Square
1 1
9 81
11 121
19 361
…….. ……
3. If a number has 4 or 6 in its unit place, then the square of that number will end with 6.
Number Square
4 16
14 196
16 256
24 576
……… ………
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4. There will always be even number of ‘0 s’ at any square number’s end.
Number Square
10 100
20 400
50 2500
200 40000
……..
5. There are 2n non perfect square numbers between the squares of the numbers n
and (n + 1).
Ex: If n = 2 and (n + 1) = 3
Then n2 = 4 and (n + 1)2 = 9
There are 2n = (2 × 2) = 4 numbers between 4 and 9 which are not perfect
squares.
6. If a natural number can be expressed as a sum of successive odd natural numbers
starting from 1, then it is perfect square number, otherwise it isn’t.
Ex: For 42 = 16
The sum of successive odd numbers starting from 1 is = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16
7. Square number can be the sum of two consecutive natural numbers.
Ex: 52 = 25 = 12 + 13
1. 72 = 49 = 24 + 25
How to find the square of a number
1. A number can be divided into two parts such that the square of that numbers are
known.
Ex: 252 = (20 + 5)2 = 202 + 2 × 20 × 5 + 52 = 400 + 200 + 25 = 625
2. For numbers which end with 5, the following rule can be followed.
(b5)2 = b × (b + 1) × 100 + 52
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Ex: 252 = 2 × (2 + 1) × 100 + 52 = 600 + 25 = 625
3. Pythagorean triplets:
For any natural number n>1,
We have (2n)2 + (n2 – 1)2 = (n2 + 1)2
So 2n, (n2 – 1) and (n2 + 1) forms a Pythagorean triplet.
Ex: If n = 2
Then, 2n = 4 and n2 – 1 = 4 – 1 = 3 and n2 + 1 = 4 + 1 = 5
(2n)2 + (n2 – 1)2 = 16 + 9 = 25
(n2 + 1)2 = 25
So, 3, 4 and 5 form a Pythagorean triplet.
Square Roots
How to find the square root of a number
1. Repeated subtraction:
In this method, successive odd natural numbers starting from 1 will be subtracted from
the given square number until the resultant does not become 0.
Ex: √16 =?
Sol:
16 – 1 = 15
15 – 3 = 12
12 – 5 = 7
7–7=0
We can see that the resultant becomes 0 in the fourth step.
So, √16 = 4
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2. Prime Factorization:
Ex: √ 256 =?
Sol:
256 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2
=> √256 = √(2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2) = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 16
3. Division Method:
Step1: We have to place a bar over every pair of digits starting from the digit of unit
place. If the number of digits is odd, then the left most single digit will also have a bar
over it.
Step2: We have to find the largest number whose square is less or equal to the
number of the extreme left bar. We have to take this number as divisor and the
quotient with the number under the extreme left bar as dividend. Then we have to
divide and get remainder.
Step3: Then we have to bring down the number under the next bar to the right of the
remainder.
Step4: We have to double the divisor and enter it with a blank on its right.
Step5: We have to guess now the 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 then the product will be less than or equal to the dividend.
Step6: We have to repeat step 3, 4 and 5 until remainder does not become 0.
Ex: √676 =?
Therefore, √ 676 = 26
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