How do you simplify radical expressions?

1 Answer
Feb 1, 2015

There are two common ways to simplify radical expressions, depending on the denominator.

Using the identities \sqrt{a}^2=a and (a-b)(a+b)=a^2-b^2, in fact, you can get rid of the roots at the denominator.

Case 1: the denominator consists of a single root. For example, let's say that our fraction is {3x}/{\sqrt{x+3}}. If we multply this fraction by {\sqrt{x+3}}/{\sqrt{x+3}}, we won't change its value (since of course {\sqrt{x+3}}/{\sqrt{x+3}}=1, but we can rewrite it as follows:
{3x}/{\sqrt{x+3}} \cdot {\sqrt{x+3}}/{\sqrt{x+3}}= \frac{3x\sqrt{x+3}}{\sqrt{x+3}^2}, and finally obtain
\frac{3x\sqrt{x+3}}{x+3}

Case 2: the denominator consists of a sum/difference of roots. If we multiply by the difference/sum of the roots, we'll have the same result as above. For example, if you have

\frac{\cos(x)}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{\sin(x)}

You'll multiply numerator and denominator by the difference \sqrt{x}-\sqrt{\sin(x), and obtain

\frac{\cos(x)}{\sqrt{x}+\sqrt{\sin(x))} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{\sin(x)}}{\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{\sin(x)}} which is

\frac{\cos(x)(\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{\sin(x)})}{\sqrt{x}^2-\sqrt{\sin(x)}^2}

which finally equals

\frac{\cos(x) (\sqrt{x}-\sqrt{\sin(x)})}{x-\sin(x)}

Of course, when working with radicals, you always need to pay attention and make sure that the argument of the root is positive, otherwise you will write things that have no meaning!