Badb just asked me if I could show her how to calculate the square root of a number. I cast my mind back to 7th grade and tried to remember going up to the blackboard and calculating arbitrary square roots. “Um, yeah, but let me go look it up. It’s been a long time and I want to be sure I’m right,” I said. I found a nice explanation that aligned well with the method I learned oh-so-many years ago (and haven’t used since — what do you suppose slide rules, calculators, and general-purpose computers are for, if not for doing homework?) and came back to her. “Okay, so show me the number you’re supposed to take the square root of.”
It was 3600.
Srsly. Always ask another question. But keep the interwebs handy just in case your kid does need to compute the square root of 5,287 and show her work.
You’re such a good dad!