radical

In mathematics, the radical symbol, radical sign, root symbol, or surd is a symbol for the square root or higher-order root of a number. The square root of a number

x

{\displaystyle x}

is written as

x

,

{\displaystyle {\sqrt {x}},}

while the

n

{\displaystyle n}

th root of

x

{\displaystyle x}

is written as

x

n

.

{\displaystyle {\sqrt[{n}]{x}}.}

It is also used for other meanings in more advanced mathematics, such as the radical of an ideal.

In linguistics, the symbol is used to denote a root word.