Square Root of 500

In this article we're going to calculate the square root of 500 and explore what the square root is and answer some of the common questions you might. We'll also look at the different methods for calculating the square root of 500 (both with and without a computer/calculator).

Square Root of 500 Definition

In mathematical form we can show the square root of 500 using the radical sign, like this: √500. This is usually referred to as the square root of 500 in radical form.

So what is the square root? In this case, the square root of 500 is the quantity (which we will call q) that when multiplied by itself, will equal 500.

√500 = q × q = q²

Is 500 a Perfect Square?

In math, we refer to 500 being a perfect square if the square root of 500 is a whole number.

In this case, as we will see in the calculations below, we can see that 500 is not a perfect square.

To find out more about perfect squares, you can read about them and look at a list of 1000 of them in our What is a Perfect Square? article.

Is The Square Root of 500 Rational or Irrational?

A common question is to ask whether the square root of 500 is rational or irrational. Rational numbers can be written as a fraction and irrational numbers cannot.

A quick way to check this is to see if 500 is a perfect square. If it is, then it is a rational number. If it's not a perfect square then it's an irrational number.

We already know if 500 is a perfect square so we also can see that √500 is an irrational number.

Can the Square Root of 500 Be Simplified?

500 can be simplified only if you can make 500 inside the radical symbol smaller. This is a process that is called simplifying the surd. In this example, the square root of 500 can be simplified.

√500 = 10√5.

How to Calculate The Square Root of 500 with a Calculator

If you have a calculator then the simplest way to calculate the square root of 500 is to use that calculator. On most calculators you can do this by typing in 500 and then pressing the √x key. You should get the following result:

√500 ≈ 22.3607

How to Calculate the Square Root of 500 with a Computer

On a computer you can also calculate the square root of 500 using Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets and the SQRT function, like so:

SQRT(500) ≈ 22.360679774998

What is the Square Root of 500 Rounded?

Sometimes you might need to round the square root of 500 down to a certain number of decimal places. Here are the solutions to that, if needed.

10th: √500 ≈ 22.4

100th: √500 ≈ 22.36

1000th: √500 ≈ 22.361

What is the Square Root of 500 as a Fraction?

We covered earlier in this article that only a rational number can be written as a fraction, and irrational numbers cannot.

Like we said above, since the square root of 500 is an irrational number, we cannot make it into an exact fraction. However, we can make it into an approximate fraction using the square root of 500 rounded to the nearest hundredth.

√500

≈ 22.4/1

≈ 2236/100

≈ 22 9/25

What is the Square Root of 500 Written with an Exponent?

All square root calculations can be converted to a number (called the base) with a fractional exponent. Let's see how to do that with the square root of 500:

√b = b^½

√500 = 500^½

How to Find the Square Root of 500 Using Long Division

Finally, we can use the long division method to calculate the square root of 500. This is very useful for long division test problems and was how mathematicians would calculate the square root of a number before calculators and computers were invented.

Step 1

Set up 500 in pairs of two digits from right to left and attach one set of 00 because we want one decimal:

5	00	00

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Step 2

Starting with the first set: the largest perfect square less than or equal to 5 is 4, and the square root of 4 is 2 . Therefore, put 2 on top and 4 at the bottom like this:

2
5	00	00
4

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Step 3

Calculate 5 minus 4 and put the difference below. Then move down the next set of numbers.

2
5	00	00
4
1	00

---

Step 4

Double the number in green on top: 2 × 2 = 4. Then, use 4 and the bottom number to make this problem:

4? × ? ≤ 100

The question marks are "blank" and the same "blank". With trial and error, we found the largest number "blank" can be is 2. Replace the question marks in the problem with 2 to get:

42 × 2 = 84

Now, enter 2 on top, and 84 at the bottom:

2	2
5	00	00
4
1	00
84

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Step 5

Calculate 100 minus 84 and put the difference below. Then move down the next set of numbers.

2	2
5	00	00
4
1	00
84
0	16	00

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Step 6

Double the number in green on top: 22 × 2 = 44. Then, use 44 and the bottom number to make this problem:

44? × ? ≤ 1600

The question marks are "blank" and the same "blank". With trial and error, we found the largest number "blank" can be is 3.

Now, enter 3 on top:

2	2	3
5	00	00
4
1	00
84
0	16	00

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That's it! The answer shown at the top in green. The square root of 500 with one digit decimal accuracy is 22.4. Notice that the last two steps actually repeat the previous two. To add decimal places to your answe you can simply add more sets of 00 and repeat the last two steps.