# Math Help - [SOLVED] simplifying radical expressions and using absolute value symbols!

1. ## [SOLVED] simplifying radical expressions and using absolute value symbols!

idfk know what I am doing. help ?
I did the first one but there is no way to check if I'm doing it right

#1 square root of 36x^4 = 6x^2?
#2 square root of c^80d^50 = ?

and when would I need to use a absolute value symbol? (and why if you can explain! please!)

hope someone can help, seems after you graduate (high school) you loose all memory of these things so my friends are no help

2. Well, first we have:

$\sqrt{36x^4}$

We use absolute value in square root operations because the square of a positive number is the same as the square of the same negative number, so when you take the square root of a number, it could be the positive or negative version of that number, depending on what you are looking for. So the solution to your first problem is:

$\sqrt{36x^4} = |6x^2|$

And the second problem:

$\sqrt{c^{80}d^{50}}$

Same principle applies:

$\sqrt{c^{80}d^{50}} = |c^{40}d^{25}|$

3. We use absolute value in square root operations because the square of a positive number is the same as the square of the same negative number, so when you take the square root of a number, it could be the positive or negative version of that number, depending on what you are looking for. So the solution to your first problem is:

$\sqrt{36x^4} = |6x^2|$
This is all right. However, there is one more thing I would like to add on the subject of absolute value signs. They are only needed when there is an odd power or a subtraction happening, because anything raised to an even power will be positive. So in this case, we can just write $6x^2$

4. It says to use the absolute value... So I did not simplify more.