Should I give an exact or decimal answer?

Give the exact radical first, then a rounded decimal when the context needs a measurement.

What if the radicand is negative?

An even root is not real; an odd root can be evaluated over the real numbers.

Factor a radicand into perfect powers, extract complete groups, and keep an exact radical beside its decimal approximation.

Find the largest perfect nth-power factor of the radicand, take its root outside the radical, and leave the remaining factor inside.

√(a²b) = a√b

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