Hi Jess,

One eighth of the square root of some number is 2, what is this number? To say this in different terms

the square root of some number is 16. What is this number?

16² = 256 so the square root of 256 is 16.

Thus,

one eighth of the square root of 256 is 2.

But this is not the number you want. Can you now see what number you want? Make sure you check your answer.

You can use algebra to solve this problem. Let x be the number you want then the statement

"One eighth of the square root of 7 less than a number is 2."

becomes

 ¹/₈ Sqrt(x - 7) = 2

Solve for x.

Penny