Radicals and Fractions - Algebra 2

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Question

Simplify the following expression:

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Answer

First, let's see how we can combine these two fractions. Remember the following relationships:

and

Now, let's look at our problem. Let's first try and turn the first term into one big radical:

Great! We've used the first relationship; now let's combine the two radicals using the second relationship.

I haven't multiplied out anything yet because I want to see if there's any simplifying I can do BEFORE I multiply. In this case, I ask myself: Does the denominator contain any factors of 27 (3, 9, 27)?

I know 108 is divisible by 9 because its digits add up to a number that's divisible by 9. 27 is divisible by 9 too, so I can rewrite it this way:

We also know that 3 is a factor of 12:

Now, after simplifying the fraction, we have to simplify the radical. Keep this in mind:

We can finally simplify this expression completely:

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