Solve x^2 = 16/25

by inspection. There are two real solutions. Enter the lesser number first. Leave the answers in simplest fraction form.

1 answer

To solve the equation \( x^2 = \frac{16}{25} \) by inspection, we need to find numbers whose squares equal \( \frac{16}{25} \).

We can start by taking the square root of both sides:

\[ x = \pm \sqrt{\frac{16}{25}} \]

Now, we can simplify the square root:

\[ \sqrt{\frac{16}{25}} = \frac{\sqrt{16}}{\sqrt{25}} = \frac{4}{5} \]

Thus, we have two solutions:

  1. \( x = \frac{4}{5} \)
  2. \( x = -\frac{4}{5} \)

The lesser number is \( -\frac{4}{5} \). Therefore, the two real solutions are:

\[ -\frac{4}{5}, \quad \frac{4}{5} \]