Skills Handbook - Squaring Numbers and Finding Square Roots - Exercises - Page 889: 13

$x=7\text{ or }x=-7$

To solve the equation $x^2=49$, we must perform the opposite operation of squaring, which is taking the square root, in order to clear the exponent: $$x^2=49$$$$\sqrt {x^2}=\sqrt {49}$$$$x=\pm7$$$$x=7\text{ or }x=-7$$