okay I figured out the first part of my problem I just needed to add brackets [ ] to each statement. new code below.
clc, clear
prompt = 'Enter a positive integer ';
x = input(prompt);
y = sqrt(x);
if isreal(y)
disp(['The number ',x,' is a square; it is the square of the number ',(y)])
else
disp([' The number ',(x),' is not a square.'])
end
Now i just need to get it to actually display the variables instead of boxes
Enter a positive integer 25
The number is a square; it is the square of the number