Rationalize the Denominator

In this section, we learn how to rationalize the denominator. We begin with the rules of a simplified radical. The first rule is that the radicand contains no factor other than one that is a: perfect square - square root, perfect cube - cube root, perfect fourth - fourth root,…Essentially, this is telling us if we can remove a rational number from the radical, we must do so to have a simplified result. Second, we learn that the radicand cannot contain any fractions. Lastly, we are told there is no radical present in any denominator. When we are presented with a scenario that contains a radical in our denominator, we use a process called rationalizing the denominator. This process changes the denominator from an irrational number into a rational number.