Chapter 5 Raking in Radicals

Radical expressions are characterized by radical symbols and an index — a small number written in front of the radical symbol that indicates whether you have a cube root, a fourth root, and so on. When no number is written in front of the radical, you assume it's a square root.

The Problems You'll Work On

In this chapter, you get plenty of practice working with radicals in the following ways:

Simplifying radical expressions by finding a perfect square factor
Rationalizing denominators with one term
Rationalizing denominators with two terms, using a conjugate
Rewriting radicals with fractional exponents
Dividing with radicals
Solving operations involving fractional exponents
Estimating the values of radical expressions

What to Watch Out For

As you get in your groove, solving one radical problem after another, don't overlook the following:

Choosing the largest perfect square factor when simplifying a radical expression
Multiplying correctly when writing equivalent fractions, using conjugates
Performing operations correctly when fractions are involved
Checking radical value estimates by comparing to nearest perfect square values