Square root

The square root of a number is the number whose square is said number.

Calculating the square root was a common and useful albeit boring and complex mathematical operation. For example, Data once told a very boring "anecdote" about how he calculated the square root of pi as a way of determining the distance between two stellar objects. 

During a Ferengi takeover of the Enterprise in 2369, William Riker succeeded in confusing a Ferengi which had ordered him to explain the computer by spewing overtly complex and confusing information. Among his claims were that the ramistat kiloquad capacity was a function of the square root of the intermix ratio times the sum of the plasma injector quotient. 

In 2373, while Odo and Quark were stranded on an uninhabited planet and forced to ascend to higher terrain, Quark estimated the height of a mountain saying "carry the seven, take the square root, times pi". His result was that the mountain was "high".