Find the nearest perfect square on either side of the given value.
5
Practice makes perfect
A perfect square is a number that can be written as a square of some integer. Therefore, its square root is a whole number.
sqrt(a^2)=|a|To estimate sqrt(30) to the nearest integer, let's narrow down our estimate by looking at nearby perfect squares. The two nearest perfect squares are 25 and 36.
We know that sqrt(30) is somewhere between 5 and 6. In order to estimate it to the nearest whole number, we have to know which perfect square is closer. We will do this by finding the difference between 25 and 30, and 30 and 36.
&25-5 ←30+6 →36
Because 25 is closer to 30, we know that sqrt(25) is closer to sqrt(30). Therefore, the nearest integer is 5.
