To find the square of [tex]\(0.02\)[/tex], follow these steps:
1. Understand the square operation: When we square a number, we multiply the number by itself. So, [tex]\( (0.02)^2 \)[/tex] means [tex]\( 0.02 \times 0.02 \)[/tex].
2. Multiplication:
- Write down [tex]\(0.02 \times 0.02\)[/tex].
- We calculate the product of the two decimals.
3. Decimal places:
- Note that [tex]\(0.02\)[/tex] has two decimal places.
- When multiplying two numbers with decimals, the number of decimal places in the result is the sum of the decimal places of the numbers being multiplied.
- So, [tex]\(0.02 \times 0.02\)[/tex] has [tex]\(2 + 2 = 4\)[/tex] decimal places.
4. Calculate the product:
- Perform the multiplication: [tex]\(2 \times 2 = 4\)[/tex].
- Because we need 4 decimal places in the result, we place the number 4 such that there are exactly four zeros before it to make up the decimal places: [tex]\(0.0004\)[/tex].
Thus,
[tex]\[
(0.02)^2 = 0.0004
\][/tex]