SOLUTION: how do you simplify radical expresions? are there certain rules to follow for each of the numbers? how do you you work a problem such as - (check) 20 + 2 (check) 18 ?

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Denote the square root by sqrt(x), "check" is too ambiguous.

To simplify square roots, you have to factor perfect squares out. To factor

,

we see that the largest perfect square divisor of 20 is 4, and for 18, it is 9. So,



Now we split the 4 and the 5, as well as the 9 and the 2.