What does the word radical have to do with roots? Why do we interchange "radical 2" with "the square root of 2"?
A trip to the dictionary shows that "radical" comes from the Latin radix, which means root.
The use of the term "root" in math goes back even earlier, finding its origins in the Indo-European word werad. Initially used to refer to the roots or branches of plants, mathematicians used werad to refer to a number used to build up another number. For example, 2 is the square root of 4 because 2*2 (two squared) gives us (builds up to) 4.
When translated into Latin, werad became radix, thus giving us our modern usage of radical in math!
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