Bilingual School of Panama 1

MODULE No. 1
Professor: Gabriel Figueroa.

RADICAL

A radical is an expression of the form a, wheren and to ;

It is negative, so it must be odd.

Parts of a radical: a
it is the radical sign
it is the index of the radical
this is the radicand or the quantity under the radical

The root of a radical is the number that must be raised to the index to obtain the radicand.

The signs of the radicals depend on the sign of the radicand and the index of the radical.
let's see:
1) If the quantity under the radical is positive and the index of the radical is even, then there exist

two opposite real roots.

Example:

a)25 (5)2 5 b) 144 = 12

If the radicand is positive and the index of the radical is odd, then it has a root.
real and positive
Example:
5
32 5
(2) 52 b)343
3
(7) 3 7 3

If the quantity under the radical is negative and the index is even, its answer does not exist.
set of real numbers.
Example:
5 , does not belong to the set of real numbers
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b)2 43 does not belong to the set of real numbers.

4) If the quantity under the radical is negative and the index of the radical is odd, then
There is a real root that is negative.
Examples:

a) 3
2 7 (3)3 3 3
b)3 25 (2) 5 2 5

Observations:
Radicals of index 2 are called square roots and the index is omitted when writing.

1.1 Radicals in the form of fractional powers

The radical can be expressed in positive and negative fractional power.

1.1.a Radical in the form of positive fractional power

m
Given a positive real number and a fractional number with n 0,
n
m
m
we define the power of base and exponent , like this: a n
= a
n m
.
n

As we see, a power with a fractional exponent can be expressed as a radical.

(and vice versa), where the denominator indicates what type of index it is and the numerator is the
exponent of the quantity under the radical.

This is: a n
= a
n m

Examples:
Convert the radical into a fractional exponent
a) 3= b)312 =

c)483 = d)754 =
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1.1.b Radical in the form of negative fractional power:

Given a positive real number and a negative fractional number

m m
with n 0 , we define the base power as baseay exponent - , as follows:
n
m
 1 1
a m
=
ma n
an

1.2 PROPERTIES OF RADICALS

PROPERTIES STEPS EXAMPLE
The radical of a product is
equal to the product of the
radicals
n
ab= ( na)( nb)
If the radicals do not have the
1) Multiplication of
same index, is reduced to
radicals 3(8)(27) = ( 38) ( 327)
common index.
Example:

This also applies in the case

of the division

The radical of a quotient is

2) Division of radicals equal to the quotient of the radicals
4
5 5
a a 4
=n =
b b
4
12 9
The radical of a radical is another
radical whose index is the
Root of root
product of the indices: 2 3
10 = 2 310 10
6

The radical of a power is

equal to the power of a
4) Radical of one 6
3 4
( 36) 4
radical
power

5) Amplify and If we multiply or divide the

simplify the index and the exponent of
exponent y the rooting for the same one
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rooting number, the value of the radical is not

a) 423 2
4 2 3 2
2
8 6
varies

a) b)
p q
b)
np nq
a = a

2. SIMPLIFICATION OF RADICALS

To simplify a radical, it is necessary that the index and the exponent of the
if they have a common factor, then we can divide both by
this factor, obtaining an equivalent radical.

Example:
a) 1016 15
512

c)12729
Solution

a)10 24 2
10 2 4 2 b) 15512 2
15 9

5 2
2 15 3 9 3
2

2
5 3
c) 729
12
3
12 6

3
12 6 6 6

2.1 Like Radicals:

Like radicals are those that have the same index and equal
root or quantity under the radical.

Examples1:
Examples of similar radicals
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a) 5 y 8 5 b) 3
7 y 9 37 c) 5
12 , 9 57 y 1257

Example 2: Identify the like radicals.

2 5 3 35 , 4
2 , 4 5 34 2 , 2 35, -104 2

Solution
We separate them into three groups of similar radicals:

a) 2 5 4 5 equal amount sub-radical and equal index

b)335 , 2 35 , equal amount sub-radical and equal index

4
c) 2 , 34-10
24 2. equal amount under the radical and equal index

Examples 3:
Investigate if they are similar radicals
a) 54125
y b) y 300 c)56,250
48 y 52,048
Solution.
Breaking down the quantities under the radical into factors

a)54 9 6 decomposition of fractions

= 32 6 property of product of radicals

2
=32 6 conversion of fractional exponent radical

=3 6 simplification of fractional exponent

125 = 25 6 decomposition of fractions

= 52 6 the square of a number

= 52 6 property of the product of radicals

2
= 52 6 conversion of fractional exponent radical

=5 6 simplification of fractional exponent

=5 6 Therefore 54 y 125 similar radicals.

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b)
48 16 3 300 100 3

42 3 102 3

42 3 102 3
2
42 3 10 3

4 3 10 3

Then48 y 300 are similar since 4, 3 and 10 3 they have the same index and
sub-radical quantity.

c) Decomposing the sub-radical quantities into prime factors

5
5
6 250 2(5)
5
6250 2
3125 5
= 52 5
55 625 5
125 5 6250 = 2 55
= 2 5
5
25 5
5 5
=5 5
2 1

5 2
5
2,048 2((2))
5 2048 2
1024 2
2
5
(2)
5 5 2 512 2
256 2
128 2
5
2 25 64 2 2048=211
32 2 = 2(25)2
25 5 2 16 2
8 2
4 2
2 2
1

Then56,250 y 52 048 are similar because they have the same sub-radical amount and equal

index552 y 4 52
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2.2Reductionofradicalstoacommonindex
To reduce several radicals to a common index, they must be converted into other radicals.
equivalents that have the same index.

Steps to reduce radicals

1) The least common multiple (l.c.m) of the indices is found, which will be
a new common index.
We divide the common index of the radicals by each of the indices.
and each obtained result is multiplied by each exponent

Examples: Given the following radicals, reduce the indices to a common index.

a)532 , 8, 3
54 b)46 2 , 673 , 5(43 )

c)84,096 , 464 d)493 , 9

25 , 836

2.3 Extraction of factors outside the radical sign

To extract factors from a radicand, you must decompose the radicand into
factors:
a) If an exponent is less than the index, the corresponding factor is
leave in the radicand.
b) If an exponent is equal to the index, the corresponding factor comes out.
of the radicand:
c) If an exponent is greater than the index, the exponent is divided by the index.

index. The obtained quotient is the exponent of the factor outside the radicand and
the rest is the exponent of the factor within the radicand

Examples:

8 25 27 2(2)2 (5)2 3(3)2

1)
2 5 32 3 30 6

3
35 54 47 33 33 52 5
3
(4) 2 34 3 5 2 34 23 5 4 2403 32 5 4
2)
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5
96 486 128 5 3(32) Two hundred forty-three 4(32)
3)

53(2) 52(3) 4(2)

5 5

2 3 2 53 2 4

1253 2 4

2.4 Introduction of factors inside the radical sign.

To introduce factors inside a radical, the following are introduced:

factorsraisedtothecorrespondingindexoftheradical.

Examples

1)5 3 3 52

2)3 3 4 225 3 4 3 3 422 5 3 4 (3)

3 5
(4)2 5

33 42 5 2 3 4 3(3)
5 2 5
(4)

33 42 5 2 3 4 315 410

33 42 5 2 316 411

Review what you have learned by watching the following video:

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Now you!
Page 440 of the book Intermediate Algebra Ángel Runde: Problems: 7, 8, 9, 18, 21, 24
29, 30, 37, 38.

2) Page 440 of the book Intermediate Algebra Ángel Runde: Problems: 46, 47, 49, 50.

440

Note: Make the annotations and practices in the Mathematics notebook.