Solving Radical Equations: Introduction (page 1 of 6)

A "radical" equation is an equation in which at least one variable expression is stuck inside a radical,
usually a square root.

For instance, this is a

radical equation:

...but this is not:

The "radical" in "radical equations" can be any root, whether a square root, a cube root, or some other
root. Most of the examples in what follows use square roots as the radical, but (warning!) you should not
be surprised to see an occasional cube root or fourth root in your homework or on a test.

In general, you "solve" equations by "isolating" the variable; you isolate the variable by "undoing"
whatever had been done to it. Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved

For instance, given x + 2 = 5, you would solve by

undoing the addition of the 2. That is, the addition
undone by applying the opposite: subtraction:

In the same manner, given something like 3x = 12,

you would solve by undoing the multiplication by
applying the opposite operation; namely, division:

When you have a variable inside a square root, you

undo the root by doing the opposite: squaring. For
instance, given , you would square both sides:
 ADVERTISEMENT

Issue 1:
There are a couple of issues that frequently arise
when solving radical equations. The first is that
you must square sides, not terms. Here is a
classic example of why this is so:

I start with a true equation and then square both

sides:

3+4=7
(3 + 4)2 = 72
49 = 49

...but if I square the terms on the left-hand side:

3+4=7
32 + 42 "=" 72
9 + 16 "=" 49
25 "=" 49 ...............Oops!

In each case, I started with a true statement; namely, 3 + 4 = 7. When I squared both sides, I also ended
with a true statement: 49 = 49. But when I squared the terms, 32 + 42, I ended up with something that
was not true: 25 "=" 49. The most common mistake that students make when solving radical equations
is squaring terms instead of sides. Don't make this mistake! You should always remember to:

** SQUARE SIDES, NOT TERMS **

Issue 2:
The other issue is that you will need to check your answers. You can always check your answers in a
solved equation by plugging your answer back into the original equation and making sure that it fits.

For instance, in my first example above, you can check that I got the correct x+2=5
(3) + 2 = 5
answer by plugging 3 in for x and verifying that the equation is still true: 5=5

You probably did some of this type of checking when you first starting solving linear equations. But
eventually you developed your skills, and you quit checking. The difficulty with radical equations is that
you may have done every step correctly, but your answer may still be wrong. This is because the very act
of squaring the sides can create solutions that never existed before.

For instance, I could say "2 = 2", and you would know that this (2)2 = 22
is false. But look what happens when I square both sides: 4=4

I started with something that was not true, squared both sides of it, and ended with something that was
true. This is not good!

A more pertinent example would be this:

This "equation" is no more true than the "2 = 2" "equation" above, because no positive square
root can ever equal a negative number.

But suppose I hadn't noticed that this equation has no

solution, and had proceeded to square both sides:

By squaring, I created a solution ("x = 9") that had not

existed before and is in fact not valid. But I won't discover
this error unless I remembered to check my solution:

So the actual answer for the equation sqrt(x) = 3 is "no solution".

There is another way to look at this "no solution" difficulty: When you are solving an equation, you can
view the process as trying to find where two lines intersect on a graph.
For instance, when I was solving "x + 2 = 5" above,
you could also say that I was trying to find the
intersection of y1 = x + 2 (from the left-hand side of
x + 2 = 5) and y2 = 5 (from the right-hand side):

As you can see in the graph above, the two lines intersect at x = 3, which was the solution we had
already found. Similarly, when I was solving the equation , I was also trying to find the intersection
of y1 = sqrt(x) and y2 = 4:

As the above graph displays, the solution is at x = 16.

But when I was trying to solve the equation:

...I was trying to find the intersection of y1 = sqrt(x)

and y2 = 3, which do not intersect.

(Note: If you don't know how I got the curvy blue line in the
graph at right, then review how to graphradical equations.)
So what happened when I squared both sides? I also
"squared" both line equations, and got the two new lines
y1 = x and y2 = 9. And, as the graph shows, these two
lines actually do intersect!

This is how squaring created a solution where there hadn't been a solution before. But the after-squaring
solution did not work in the before-squaring equation, because the original lines had not intersected. This
illustrates why checking the solution showed that the real answer was "no solution".

Warning: Many instructors do not to show many examples (in class or in the homework) of radical
equations for which the solutions don't actually work. But then they'll put one of these on the test. You
should expect a "no solution" radical equation on the test, so you do not want to forget to check your
solutions!

** CHECK ALL SOLUTIONS **

Solve the equation:

The two lines represented by the two sides of this equation are:

...and they graph as: Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved
...so you can see that there should be a solution at or about x = 10. To solve this algebraically, I
need to square each side:

x 1 = (x 7)(x 7)
x 1 = x2 14x + 49

The squared expressions can be graphed as the lines y = x 1 and y = x2 14x + 49. The
solutions of x 1 = x2 14x + 49 are the intersection points of the two lines:

As you can see, the intersection point at x = 10, from the first graph, is still there, but now a
second, extraneous, solution has appeared at x = 5! ("Extraneous", pronounced as "ek-STRAY-
nee-uss", in this context means "mathematically correct, but not relevant or useful, as far as the
original question is concerned".) Continuing the solution:

x 1 = x2 14x + 49
0 = x2 15x + 50
 0 = (x 5)(x 10) ADVERTISEMENT
x = 5, x = 10

So I got the result that the second graph

led me to expect, but I also know, from the
first graph, that "x = 5" should not be a
solution. This again illustrates why you
always need to check your answers when
solving radical equations: the very act of
squaring has, in this case, produced an
extra and incorrect "solution". Here's my
check:

x = 5:

x = 10:

So the answer is x = 10.

Solve the equation:

Since this equation is in the form "(square root) = (number)", I can proceed directly to squaring
both sides:

x 2 = 25
x = 27

This solution matches what I would expect from the graph of the two sides of the equation:
 As you can see above, the lines:

y=5

...intersect at x = 27, as the algebra had already shown me. Checking, I get:

So the solution is x = 27.

Solve the equation:

I could square both sides now, but look what I would get:

So, while squaring both sides at this point would not be "wrong", it would not be the most useful
first step. Instead of squaring right away, I will first move the 2 over to the right-hand side, so the
radical will be by itself on the left:
 Now squaring both sides will work better:

Checking, I get:

So the solution is x = 49.

Find the solution:

This problem is a bit more messy than the previous two. I cannot get the radical by itself on one
side, because there are two radicals. So how can I solve this algebraically? By squaring both
sides twice. Here's what it looks like:
 ADVERTISEMENT

Warning: Do NOT try to do these steps in

your head. Take the time to write things
out completely, so you won't make
mistakes!

Checking my solution, I get:

Hmm... According to this, there is no solution. I'll check the graph of the two lines:

...to see if it looks like there ought to be a solution:

No; according to the graph, it does not appear that these lines intersect (and calculus techniques
can prove this). Why did it appear that there was a solution? Look at the graphs from the second
squaring: Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved

y = x2 12x + 36
y = x2 3x
 So I came up with an algebraic solution because I had accidentally created one by my repeated
squaring. But that "solution" didn't check out in the original equation, so the actual answer is that
there is no solution.

On the other hand, look at the following...

Find the solution:

This is the same as the previous equation, except that the sign between the radicals has been
reversed. And look at the graphs of the left-hand and right-hand sides:

So this equation does have a solution, at around x = 4. Here is the algebra:

 ...and here's the check:

Since the solution works in the original equation, then the solution is valid, and the answer is:

x = 4 Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved

Find the solution:

This already has the square root by itself on one side, so I can proceed directly to squaring both
sides. However, a great many students will do the following when given this type of question:
 <== (wrong!) ADVERTISEMENT

Do you see how the student erroneously

"distributed" the square through the
parentheses? Do you see how the student
squared terms, not sides? In so doing, the
student has arrived at a result which,
technically speaking, means that every
single value of x will work, since it
appears that the equation is always true
everywhere. (When would zero not be
equal to zero, right?) But the graph of the
equations of the two sides:

...shows otherwise:

And, from your experience graphing straight lines and radical functions, you should already have
known that there was no way that a curvy radical line could possibly be the same as a straight
line such as y = 3x + 2.

So don't square terms; square sides! And take the time to write out the square properly:
 This matches the graph above. Now, checking:

So the solution is x = 0.

Solve the equation:

Square both sides, being careful to write out the square on the right-hand side:

Then x = 8 and x = 2. Are both of these solutions valid? Graphing the lines for either side of the
original equation:

...I get the following graph:

 It appears that both solutions are valid. Here's the check:

x = 8: x = 2:

So the solution is x = 8 or x = 2.

The following examples are not complete. I'll leave the checking to you!

Solve:

This equation will have to be squared twice in order to solve it:

It appears that the solutions are x = 5 and x = 0. However, only one of these solutions is actually valid.
To find out which one, check them both.

Solve:

This equation will also have to be squared twice. Don't forget to square that 3 in front of the
square root on the right-hand side! Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved

To solve this, use the Quadratic Formula. Then check your answers, because only one is actually valid.

Solve:

This one is actually simpler than the two previous examples, because the two square roots are multiplied
together, rather than added or subtracted. So this equation will need to be squared only once:

ADVERTISEMENT

Then the solutions are x = 9 and x = 16. But x

cannot equal 9, because this would put
negatives inside both radicals in the original
equation. Now you check the other solution, to
see if it might work.
 Solve:

Since there is a square root inside a square root, I'll have to square twice:

Using the Quadratic Formula, I get solutions of x = 401/144 and x = 3. Check these, as only one is a valid
solution.

Solve the equation:

Since this is a CUBE root, rather

than a square root, I undo the
radical by cubing both sides of the
equations, rather than squaring:

I must remember to check my

solution:

3 = 3 ...yes!

So the solution is x = 16. Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved
 Solve the equation:

(Note that the "plus one" is outside the cube root.)

Since this is a cube root, I'll cube

both sides to undo the radical. But
first, I want to isolate the radical:

Remember to check the solution:

So the solution is x = 1/3.

Solve the equation:

Since this is a fourth root, I'll raise both
sides to the fourth power:

Then I'll check my answers: x = 1/2:

I'll leave the other check for you. However, the graph does indicate that both solutions are
valid.

Graphing the left- and right-hand sides

of the original equation:

...you get the picture at right:

Zooming in, you can see that the lines
seem to intersect...

...and, zooming in some more, you can

see the two solutions:

Remember that you can't have

negatives inside a fourth root. That's
why the green line is broken into pieces
like that: you can only graph where x4 +
4x3 x is non-negative, which occurs in
three pieces, where the graph is at or
above the x-axis.

Then the solution is x = 1/2, 1/3.

Since cube roots can have negative numbers inside them, you don't tend to have the difficulty with them
regarding checking the answers that you did with square roots. However, you will have those difficulties
with fourth roots, sixth roots, eighth roots, etc; namely, any even-index root. Be careful!

You may or may not be required to show solutions graphically, but if you have a graphing calculator (so
drawing the graphs is just a matter of quickly punching a few buttons), you can use the graphs to check
your work on tests. In any case, be careful with your squaring ("Square sides, not terms!"), do each step
carefully, and don't forget to "Check your solutions!"