You can think about radicals (also called “roots”) as the opposite of exponents. We already know that the expression x^2 with the exponent of 2 means “multiply x by itself two times”. The opposite operation would be “what do we have to multiply by itself two times in order to get x^2?”
Read MoreWhen we multiply two radicals with the same type of root (both square roots, both cube roots, and so on), we simply multiply the radicands (the expressions under the radical signs) and put the product under a radical sign.
Read MoreWhen we work with radicals, we’ll run into all different kinds of radical expressions, and we’ll want to use the rules we’ve learned for working with radicals in order to simplify them. This could include any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of radicals.
Read MoreWhen we divide one radical by another with the same type of root, we just divide the radicands and put the quotient under a radical sign. In other words, the quotient of the radicals is the radical of the quotient.
Read MoreWhen we have two terms that contain the same type of root (the radical in both terms is a square root, the radical in both terms is a cube root, etc.) and identical radicands (the expressions under the radical signs in the two terms are the same), they are like terms, and adding and subtracting is really simple.
Read More