Rational Expression With Square Roots

tristatefabricatorsinc

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2006
Messages
60
Simplify the following...

sqrt(18x^3 y^5)
-------------------
sqrt(2xy^2)

can I take the x^3 in the numerator and subtract it with the x^2 in the denominator, or do I have to work on the square root first? I have not done this in a while...

Thank You.
 
Think of the radical as a 1/2 power.

\(\displaystyle \L\\\frac{(18x^{3}y^{5})^{\frac{1}{2}}}{(2xy^{2})^{\frac{1}{2}}}\)

\(\displaystyle =\L\\\sqrt{\frac{18x^{3}y^{5}}{2xy^{2}}}\)

When you divide exponents, you subtract the powers.

Work inside the radical first.

Example: \(\displaystyle \frac{18x^{3}}{2x}=9x^{2}\)....See?.

Continue:

\(\displaystyle \L\\\sqrt{\frac{18x^{3}y^{5}}{2xy^{2}}}\Rightarrow{({9x^{2}y^{3}})^{\frac{1}{2}}}\)

\(\displaystyle \L\\3xy^{\frac{3}{2}}\)
 
No, click on quote at the upper right corner of my post to see the code.

You can also use TexAide, then copy and paste into your post.

There are many tutorials on the web.
 
JakeD said:
tristatefabricatorsinc said:
Ok, I will have to learn it, is it difficult?
Here is a good tutorial on another math help site.
Here is the place to download TexAide: link (which can be nice for long equations like typing the Quadratic Formula, etc.) and you can also use it as a learning tool by copying and pasting formulas you type and by seeing how the code works .
 
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