Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Surd
A surd is a square root that cannot be expressed as a rational number (a quotient of real numbers), for example 2=
1.414213562... = is a surd.
There following results apply when you are manipulating surds:
1 √2 × √2 2 √2 × √3
3 √16 × √2 4 8 2
5 3
24 6 24 8
15
IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
9 √32 + √18 10 5 6 2 24 294
16
IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
Mixed numbers
We cannot simplify an expression such as 2 + 3√2 or √2 + √3 because there are no common terms.
The conjugate
When we have a mixed number, + √ , we can create another mixed number by changing the sign. The product of
these two numbers is
+ √ − √ = −
1 ( 4 7 5 )( 4 7 5 ) 2 3 + 4√5 (3 − 4√5 )
17
IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
3 6 + 3√3 (6 − 3√3 ) 4 5 + 2√3 (5 − 2√3 )
3 √5 4 9 12
√3 2 18
5 4 6 12√12
√6 √24
18
IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
7 18√21 8 15√32
√108 √72
9 1 10 2
2 3 2 5
11 1 12 1
1 − √3 3 + 2√2
19
IGCSE ADD MATH 0606
13 1 + 3√3 14 3 − √2
2 − 2√3 2 + 3√2
15 2 3 2 16 2 + √5
3 2 3 3 − √5
17 2 − √7 18 3 + 3√5
3 + √7 1 − 2√5
20