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Multiplication and Division of Radicals

Rationalize the denominator

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Progress
Practice Multiplication and Division of Radicals
Progress
Estimated10 minsto complete
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Dividing Square Roots

The area of a rectangle is . The length of the rectangle is . What is the width of the rectangle?

Watch This

Watch the first part of this video, until about 3:15.

Khan Academy: How to Rationalize a Denominator

Guidance

Dividing radicals can be a bit more difficult that the other operations. The main complication is that you cannot leave any radicals in the denominator of a fraction. For this reason we have to do something called rationalizing the denominator, where you multiply the top and bottom of a fraction by the same radical that is in the denominator. This will cancel out the radicals and leave a whole number.

4.

5.

Example A

Simplify .

Solution: Break apart the radical by using Rule #4.

Example B

Simplify .

Solution: This might look simplified, but radicals cannot be in the denominator of a fraction. This means we need to apply Rule #5 to get rid of the radical in the denominator, or rationalize the denominator. Multiply the top and bottom of the fraction by .

Example C

Simplify .

Solution: Reduce the fraction, and then apply the rules above.

Intro Problem Revisit Recall that the area of a rectangle equals the length times the width, so to find the width, we must divide the area by the length.

= .

Now we need to rationalize the denominator. Multiply the top and bottom of the fraction by .

Therefore, the width of the rectangle is .

Guided Practice

Simplify the following expressions using the Radical Rules learned in this concept and the previous concept.

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3. The only thing we can do is rationalize the denominator by multiplying the numerator and denominator by and then simplify the fraction.

Explore More

Simplify the following fractions.

Challenge Use all the Radical Rules you have learned in the last two concepts to simplify the expressions.

Answers for Explore More Problems

To view the Explore More answers, open this PDF file and look for section 5.6.

Vocabulary Language: English

Rationalize the denominator

Rationalize the denominator

To rationalize the denominator means to rewrite the fraction so that the denominator no longer contains a radical.