Question

What happens when we square $$\left( -50\right)^{2} $$?
(A). -2500
(B). 2500
(C). 2500i
(D). -2500i

Answer 1

Hint: In this question it is given that we have to find the square of (-50). So to find the solution we need to know that a square is the result of multiplying a number by itself, i,e, if a be any number then $$a^{2}$$ can be written as $$a\times a$$.

Complete step-by-step solution:
The given number is a=-50, and we have to find the square of this given number.
So $$a^{2}$$
$$=\left( -50\right)^{2} $$
$$=\left( -50\right) \times \left( -50\right) $$.....(1)
Now as we know that the multiplication of two negative numbers gives a positive number, so from (1) we can write,
$$a^{2}=\left( -50\right) \times \left( -50\right) $$
$$=50\times 50$$
$$=2500$$
Hence the correct option is option B.

Note: While solving this type of question you need to know that you can square a negative number. In fact, any number at all can be squared. This is because to square a number just means to multiply it by itself.
For example, (-2) squared is $$(-2)\times (-2)$$= 4. Note that this is positive because when you multiply two negative numbers you get a positive result.
Now you might be confused about whether you can square a negative number because what you can't do is take the square root of a negative number.This is because if a negative number had a square root, you would have to find a number that when you multiply it by itself, the result would come out negative. This can't happen because either that number would be positive and a positive times a positive is positive, or that number would be negative and a negative times a negative is also positive.