Mathematical duality Memes

The student's naive declaration that 4 has two square roots (2 and -2) triggers a mathematical transformation in the teacher. From mild amusement to existential horror upon realizing the student is technically correct. √4 = ±2 is one of those mathematical truths we conveniently simplify until someone points it out, then we're forced to confront the duality lurking in our equations. Every positive number secretly harboring both a positive and negative square root like some mathematical split personality disorder.