I think you're asking about the trick of breaking up the 3 in order to cancel one factor. If you don't happen to see that, you can multiply the numerator and denominator by [MATH]\sqrt{3}[/MATH] and then cancel; that is a standard trick called "rationalizing the denominator". Both forms can be very useful.Side question: how do you visualize the squares like that? It seems like a very useful tool.
When you have an expression that is hard to work with, two standard techniques for making life easier areThank you - as I feared and suspected, the answer was obvious.
Side question: how do you visualize the squares like that? It seems like a very useful tool.