Factoring Square Roots

[YourAverageGiraffe]

Okay so, we are I am in a Acc. Geometry course at my high school and we are finding the geometric mean of trianangles using proportions, but she does not allow decimals so we have to simplyfy them in radical form..so I was wondering if anyone could explain to me how to decide wich numbers you pick at the end of your "tree" whenever you are factoring the squared number..please.

 

[allie345]

ohhh i know !!! im in fifth grade but im pretty sure what your talking about is a factor tree . well first you have your number persay 45 . 9 times 5 equals 45 so its not prime you bring down the 5 because its prime. (i really reccomend you print out a sheet with prime factors mubers all the way to 100 . it really helps.)then you do 3 times 3 equals nine so its not prime your anwser should be 3 with a little 2 times5 (this is only a exampl) hope this is right

 

[12-year-old-poet]

ookay a factor tree: say you start with an easy one.............. 12
12 divided by 2..................................6 6
6 divided by 2..................................3 3
3 divided by 2, you can't......................3^2
the answer would be 3 squared..........all you do is find the factors to your original number


Hope this helps

 

[12-year-old-poet]

what I meant was that you find the 2 factors to any one number on a factorization tree, what are the two numbers you multipy to find 12- 3 x 4, or 2 x 6. what are the two numbers you multiply to get3 then 4, or 2 then 6. and so on...... i screwed up and I apologize. and the anser to the ORIGINAL question izs, you dont pick any one numbedr. if there are three 4's, then it would be 4^3...