Rationalizing the Denominator
The radical expression
 is not in simplified form because it has a
radical in the denominator. To write it in simplified form we rationalize the denominator. That is, we make the denominator a rational number and
eliminate the radical.
Example 1
Rationalize the denominator:
Solution
So,
Note:
When we multiply
by 1, we do not
change its value.
Here, we write 1 in the form
We can use a calculator to verify that
Use the
 key to approximate
|
from the
denominator, we multiply
