Rationalizing the Denominator

We reviewed some of the shortcuts that you can use to simplify expressions that have square root in them. Looking for common factors and perfect squares are two of the easiest shortcuts you can employ to simplify these types of problems.

We looked at another situation involving square roots, and discovered the square root of a number times itself ends up being the number. (The square root of a times the square root of a is the square root of a squared which is a.) This allowed us to learn about rationalizing the denominator of an expression, which means rewriting an expression in such a way that there is no radical sign in the denominator (which is the preference of all mathematicians).

Class was dismissed at 2:45 p.m. so students could clean out their lockers.

Tonight's Homework: Complete the worksheet you received in class today.