Why does the principal square root give only the upper half of the circle instead of the whole circle?
Conditions
- Working over the real numbers.
- Using the principal (nonnegative) square root convention.
- The underlying relation is the circle .
Reasoning, step by step
- Start with the function .
- Square both sides to obtain the relation , which rearranges to .
- Recognize that is the standard equation for a full circle of radius 3 centered at the origin.
- Apply the definition of the principal square root, which requires the output to be nonnegative ().
- Conclude that because cannot be negative, the graph only includes the top half of the circle, excluding the lower branch.
Example
The video explicitly contrasts the squared relation (labeled 'circle') with the function (annotated as 'top of circle'). The presenter draws only the pink upper semicircle from through to , omitting the lower half.
Common misconceptions
- Confusing the function graph with the full circle relation. Assuming that because the algebraic manipulation leads to , the graph of is the entire circle.
- Thinking that squaring an equation preserves equivalence in both directions without considering the domain and range restrictions introduced by the original radical.
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