Question

What does "rationalizing" the denominator mean?

Answer 1

"To rationalize the denominator means to eliminate any radical expressions in the denominator such as square roots and cube roots." It is done usually by multiplying both numerator and denominator by the radical expression or another expression including the radical to be eliminated.

Explanation:

Answer 2

It simply means getting rid of the square root or radical in the denominator

Explanation:

Rationalizing the denominator simply means getting rid of the square root or radical symbol in the denominator thereby making the denominator to be just a whole number.

For example if we want to rationalize the denominator in; 3/√2

We will multiply the numerator and the denominator by √2 to get rid of the radical in the denominator which is the square root sign.

Thus;

(3/√2) × (√2)/(√2)

This gives;

(3√2)2