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Thread: Simplyfy this!

  1. March 22nd 2011, 09:00 PM #1
    Joker37
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    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!
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  2. March 22nd 2011, 09:41 PM #2
    Prove It
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    Multiply top and bottom by the bottom's conjugate.
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  3. March 22nd 2011, 10:19 PM #3
    Joker37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prove It View Post
    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!
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  4. March 22nd 2011, 11:20 PM #4
    Prove It
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    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...
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  5. March 23rd 2011, 07:27 AM #5
    Wilmer
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joker37 View Post
    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?
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