Simplifying Fractions With Square Roots in Them

[tristatefabricatorsinc]

I seem to be forgetting a lot of basics...

anyways,

how do you simplify

(1 / 2 * sqrt(2)) - (sqrt(3) / 2*sqrt(2))

My calculator says it is...
(sqrt(2) / 4) - (sqrt(6) / 4))

How is it getting 4's in the denominators?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pka]

It call rationalizing the denominator:
\(\displaystyle \L
\frac{{\sqrt 3 }}{{2\sqrt 2 }} = \frac{{\sqrt 3 }}{{2\sqrt 2 }}\left( {\frac{{\sqrt 2 }}{{\sqrt 2 }}} \right) = \frac{{\sqrt 6 }}{{2\sqrt 4 }}\).

 

[Mrspi]

I seem to be forgetting a lot of basics...

anyways,

how do you simplify

(1 / 2 * sqrt(2)) - (sqrt(3) / 2*sqrt(2))

My calculator says it is...
(sqrt(2) / 4) - (sqrt(6) / 4))

How is it getting 4's in the denominators?

Thanks in advance!

Try multiplying the numerator and denominator of each fraction by sqrt(2).

You can combine the two fractions into a single fraction since the denominators are the same, so you should do that if the directions say "simplify."