In a radical value the number that appears below the radical symbol is called the radicand. If a number belongs to the top left of the radical symbol it is called the index. The index changes the value from a standard square root, for example if the index value is three you are looking for the cube root instead. Some radicands for perfect squares. Perfect squares are values that can be expressed as the product of two equal whole integers. An example would be sixteen. Sixteen is a perfect square because it can be expressed as the product of fours. We encourage students to memorize perfect of radicands up to one-hundred and forty-four. The easiest way to simplify a radical is to identify a perfect square. If you cannot identify a perfect square of the radicand, break the radicand up by factoring it. Look for factor that is a perfect square and simplify that value. When you completely simplify these values, the end value of the perfect square factor will reside in front of the radical symbol followed by the square root symbol with the radicand equally any value that is not a perfect square. The entire goal of this section is to get square root radical in the lowest form possible. You can tell that you have achieved that when the radicand (the number under the radical) is no longer a fraction. You can work on breaking down a radical by extracting the and ask yourself what two values could have created that product which is the radicand. Get your class involved in some practice on simplifying algebraic expressions that contain radicals, including equations with fractions under the radical (all fractions have squares in both the numerator and denominator places).

We will first show you how it is done before we set you off on your own with this topic. This series of worksheets and lessons will have you learning to identify perfect and imperfect squares. It is a very good idea to brush up on how to factor numbers. Factors are numbers that you multiply together to get another value. You can work the pull by one method until you reach the value itself. These worksheets demonstrate how to simplify radical equations and provide practice, review, and quiz sheets to help students master this skill.