document.write( "Question 406070: What are the steps to symplfying large root problems? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #286659 by MathLover1(20850)\"\" \"About 
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Simplifying Square-Root Terms
\n" ); document.write( "1.\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "To simplify a square root, you \"take out\" anything that is a \"perfect square\"; that is, you take out front anything that has two copies of the same factor:\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"sqrt%2816%29=sqrt%284%5E2%29=4\"\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "When you solve the equation \"x%5E2+=+4\", you are trying to find all possible values that might have been squared to get 4. But when you are just simplifying the expression\"+sqrt%284%29\", the ONLY answer is \"\"2\"\"; this \"positive+\"result is called the \"\"principal\"\" \"root\".
\n" ); document.write( "Other roots, such as \"-2\", can be defined using graduate-school topics like \"complex analysis\" and \"branch functions\".\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "2.
\n" ); document.write( "Sometimes the argument of a radical is \"not\" a \"perfect\"\"+square\", but it may \"contain\" a square amongst its factors.
\n" ); document.write( "To simplify, you need to factor the argument and \"take out\" anything that is a square; you find anything you've got a pair of inside the radical, and you \"move\"\"+it\"\"+out+\"\"front\". \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "To do this, you use the fact that you can switch between the multiplication of roots and the root of a multiplication. In other words, radicals can be manipulated similarly to powers:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"%28ab%29%5En=a%5En%2Ab%5En+\" \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"root%28n%2Cab%29=root%28n%2Ca%29%2Aroot%28n%2Cb%29\"\r
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