1. ## Simplyfy this!

Simplify the following:
$\frac{{}4\surd{6} - 4\surd{2}}{4\surd{2}+4\surd{6}}$

Please show all steps where possible.

Any help would be appreciated!

2. Multiply top and bottom by the bottom's conjugate.

3. Originally Posted by Prove It
Multiply top and bottom by the bottom's conjugate.
Does it have to be by it's conjugate?
Does that mean you switch in the denominator between the two terms into a negative sign?

Could you do it? I tried multiplying both the top and bottom by the denominator however not 'conjugate'. What's the conjugate?

Thanks!

4. If you have something of the form $\displaystyle a + b$, the conjugate is $\displaystyle a - b$.

This means that when you multiply them together, the middle terms cancel.

In this case, by multiplying by the conjugate, after expanding you won't have any extra surd terms in the middle...

5. Originally Posted by Joker37
Simplify the following:
$\frac{{}4\surd{6} - 4\surd{2}}{4\surd{2}+4\surd{6}}$
And do you "see" that you can cancel out the 4's?