Addition and Subtraction of Radicals

Key Questions

  • How do you add and subtract radicals?

    Answer:

    To add and subtract radicals, they must be the same radical

    Explanation:

    Given: How do you add and subtract radicals?

    To add and subtract radicals, they must be the same radical

    Example1: sqrt(5) + 2 sqrt(5) = 3 sqrt(5)

    Example 2: 6 sqrt(2) - 2 sqrt(2) = 4 sqrt(2)

    If you can simplify the square root by using perfect squares to make them the same radical, do it using sqrt(m*n) = sqrt(m)*sqrt(n)

    Example 3: 6 sqrt(8) - 2 sqrt(2)

    Simplify sqrt(8): " "sqrt(8) = sqrt(4) * sqrt(2) = 2 sqrt(2)

    6 sqrt(8) - 2 sqrt(2) = 6*2 sqrt(2) - 2 sqrt(2) = 12sqrt(2) - 2 sqrt(2) = 10 sqrt(2)

    marfre · 1 · Apr 6 2018
  • How is a radical considered a "like term"?

    Like terms are terms whose variables are the same. If both terms do not have variables, then they are still like terms.

    For example,

    4x and 293x are like terms.

    5xy and 7y are not like terms.

    sqrt 5 x and 65x are like terms.

    56xy^2 and 7xy are not like terms.

    5 and 9284 are like terms.

    As to your question, radicals on their own are like terms because they all do not have a variable.

    sqrt 43 and sqrt 53 are like terms, as there are no variables on both of them.

    Jake L. · 1 · Jan 15 2015

Questions

Radicals and Geometry Connections