Square Roots

Aaron is reading his Handy Answer Science Book every night before bed.  This morning he said, "Mom, I saw something in my Handy Answer Science Book last night that I don't understand.  Can you give me a piece of paper and let me write it for you?"

So I gave him a piece of paper and this is what he wrote:

I told him that this symbol means square root, which of course meant nothing to him.  So on another piece of paper I began showing him the meaning of square root using the number 9.  He interrupted me with a loud laugh and then said, "That's dumb!" 

Well, why is that dumb, Aaron?    "Because 9 is not square!!!" 

This time I also laughed, and he joined me because he thought I was laughing at my own "dumbness" to think that the number 9 could be square.  What a good laugh we had together, each for our own different reason! 

I was able to explain sqaure roots to Aaron.  He's good at math and he accepted the lesson - but I do believe he still thinks that this whole concept is pretty dumb. 

Literal Aaron is still stuck on the word "square!"