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Can someone explain how to simplify radicals? (Please leave an example) Im so confused!!

User Suzzette
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1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

Sure!

Explanation:

So a radical(or a root) is the opposite of the exponent(for example square root is the opposite of the square of a number). Graphically it's not but it's more simple to think of it like that. Simplifying integer radicals is simple. For example, the square of 11 is 121, so sqr121 (√121) is equal to 11. Other radicals/powers are similar. cuberoot27= 3 because 3^3 is 27. If you add variables, the same thing happens. You can think of the √ as a funnel where only the numbers "big enough" can leave. If you have √xy^2z^3,

the x would have to stay because it's only to the first power, the √y^2 would be reduced to just y, and one pair of zs can come out resulting in z√z. The final answer to √xy^2z^3 would be yz√xz. Hope that helps :)

User Huanggh
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