ACT Preparation / Unit 7 ACT 0611 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Like Radicals
Captions available
The idea
Radicals can be added or subtracted only when they have the same radicand and the same index; then the coefficients combine, as with like terms.
In practice
3√5 + 2√5 = 5√5; √12 + √3 = 2√3 + √3 = 3√3.
Where people slip
Simplify first: √12 and √3 look unlike until √12 becomes 2√3.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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