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afcwestwarrior
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how do you do that
eccefeles said:Fractions are already rational. Here's what "rational" means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_number"
I've never heard of "realizing" a fraction! What language is that translated from?
HallsofIvy said:I've never heard of "realizing" a fraction! What language is that translated from? However, I will agree that one does not rationalize fractions!
The example arildno gave was rationalizing the denominator of a fraction. There are also times when one would want to rationalize the numerator of a fraction. In general, it is not possible to rationalize both numerator and denominator at the same time.
eccefeles said:My apologies! I've made a big fool of myself once again. I was thinking about "realising" as in making the denominator of a fraction (containing complex numbers) real! (I was taught this term back in high school, here in Australia.) arildno and Hallsofivy are absolutely correct.
I'm really sorry for wasting everyone's time. I think I should go back to lurking.
Rationalizing fractions is the process of simplifying a fraction by removing any radical expressions from the denominator.
Rationalizing fractions is important because it allows us to manipulate and compare fractions more easily. Rationalizing also helps us to write fractions in their simplest form.
To rationalize a fraction with a radical in the denominator, you multiply both the numerator and denominator by a form of 1 that eliminates the radical in the denominator. This can be done by multiplying the fraction by its conjugate, which is the same expression but with the opposite sign between the terms.
No, not all fractions can be rationalized. Only fractions with radicals in the denominator can be rationalized. Fractions with irrational numbers, such as pi or e, cannot be rationalized.
The steps for rationalizing a fraction are as follows: