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2
Radicals - Higher Roots
Objective: Simplify radicals with an index greater than two.
While square roots are the most common type of radical we work with, we can
take higher roots of numbers as well: cube roots, fourth roots, fifth roots, etc. Fol-
lowing is a definition of radicals.
m
a = b if bm = a
The small letter m inside the radical is called the index. It tells us which root we
are taking, or which power we are un-doing. For square roots the index is 2. As
this is the most common root, the two is not usually written.
World View Note: The word for root comes from the French mathematician
Franciscus Vieta in the late 16th century.
The following example includes several higher roots.
Example 1.
3
3
125 = 5 64 = 4
4
7
81 = 3 128 = 2
5
4
32 = 2 16 = undefined
Often we are not as familiar with higher powers as we are with squares. It is
important to remember what index we are working with as we try and work our
way to the solution.
Example 2.
3
54 We are working with a cubed root, want third powers
23 = 8 Test 2, 23 = 8, 54 is not divisible by 8.
33 = 27 Test 3, 33 = 27, 54 is divisible by 27!
1
3
27 2 Write as factors
3
27 3 2 Product rule, take cubed root of 27
33 2 Our Solution
Just as with square roots, if we have a coefficient, we multiply the new coefficients
together.
Example 3.
3 4 48 We are working with a fourth root, want fourth powers
24 = 16 Test 2, 24 = 16, 48 is divisible by 16!
3 4 16 3 Write as factors
3 4 16 4 3 Product rule, take fourth root of 16
32 4 3 Multiply coefficients
64 3 Our Solution
We can also take higher roots of variables. As we do, we will divide the exponent
on the variable by the index. Any whole answer is how many of that varible will
come out of the square root. Any remainder is how many are left behind inside
the square root. This is shown in the following examples.
Example 4.
p
5
x25y 17z 3 Divide each exponent by 5, whole number outside, remainder inside
p
x5 y 3 5 y 2z 3 Our Solution
25
In the previous example, for the x, we divided 5 = 5 R 0, so x5 came out, no xs
17
remain inside. For the y, we divided 5 = 3 R 2, so y 3 came out, and y 2 remains
3
inside. For the z, when we divided 5 = 0R 3, all three or z 3 remained inside. The
following example includes integers in our problem.
Example 5.
3
2 40a4b8 Looking for cubes that divide into 40. The number 8 works!
3
2 8 5a4b8 Take cube root of 8, dividing exponents on variables by 3
3
2 2ab2 5ab2 Remainders are left in radical. Multiply coefficients
3
4ab2 5ab2 Our Solution
Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
2
8.2 Practice - Higher Roots
Simplify.
1) 3 625 2) 3
375
3) 3 750 4) 3
250
5) 3 875 6) 3
24
7) 44 96 8) 84 48
9) 64 112 10) 34 48
11) 4 112 12) 54 243
4
4
13) 648a2 14) 64n3
5
5
15) 224n3 16) 96x3
p
17) 5 224p5 6
18) 256x6
7
19) 37 896r 20) 8 384b8
3
3
21) 2 48v 7 22) 4 250a6
3
3
23) 7 320n6 24) 512n6
p
25) 3 135x5 y 3 3
26) 64u5v 3
p
27) 3 32x4 y 4 3
28) 1000a4b5
p
29) 3 256x4 y 6
p
30) 3 189x3 y 6
p
31) 73 81x3 y 7
p
32) 43 56x2 y 8
3
33) 2 375u2v 8 34) 83 750xy
3 p
35) 3 192ab2 36) 33 135xy 3
p
37) 63 54m8n3 p7
p
38) 64 80m4 p7 q 4
p
39) 64 648x5 y 7z 2 4
40) 6 405a5b8c
p p
41) 74 128h6 j 8k 8 42) 64 324x7 yz 7
Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
3
8.2
Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)