General Question

tranquilsea's avatar

Simplifying a square root?

Asked by tranquilsea (17775points) April 28th, 2011

My mind, for some unknown reason, is drawing a blank as to why this is so:

If I have an expression: 28 + 7 square root of 2 over 14…why is the simplified expression 4+ the square root of 2 over 2?

What factor is used to knock the seven out and leave the 4 over the 2?

This is almost as bad as when I forgot how to spell “the”. That was a bad day

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6 Answers

optimisticpessimist's avatar

7
When you simplify if you have 5x/5, you end up with 1x or just x.
hint… the square root of 2 is like any other variable when simplifying

optimisticpessimist (3909points)“Great Answer” (2points) Flag as…
tranquilsea's avatar

ROTFL. Of course. This is almost exactly like the day I forgot how to spell “the”.

Thank you.

tranquilsea (17775points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
gasman's avatar

(28 + 7√2) / 14
= (28/14) + √2(7/14)
= 2 + √2/2
= (4 + √2) / 2
In going from the 3rd line to the 4th line, a common denominator is used.

gasman (11335points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
roundsquare's avatar

WE DON’T DO HOMEWORK HERE!

just kidding

roundsquare (5522points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
optimisticpessimist's avatar

Geez, @roundsquare! I didn’t do her homework. I did her kid’s homework

optimisticpessimist (3909points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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