- #1
nobahar
- 497
- 2
Express
[tex]\frac{1+\sqrt{2}}{3-\sqrt{2}}[/tex] as [tex]a+b\sqrt{2}[/tex] where a and b are rational numbers.
I started by
[tex]\frac{1+\sqrt{2}}{3-\sqrt{2}} * \frac{3+\sqrt{2}}{3+\sqrt{2}}[/tex]
But, I obtain
[tex]\frac{5}{7}-\frac{4}{7}\sqrt{2}[/tex]
I believe that, here, a and b are rational, but is there a more tidy version? I tried playing with the square root so that it is a multiple of 2, so that I could 'split' it into two square roots, on of the square root of two so that I could use it to cancel out the square root of two on the bottom, then I could also remove the other square root if it was a rational square root. For example, I tried:
[tex]\frac{1+\sqrt{2}}{3-\sqrt{2}} * \frac{x+\sqrt{8}}{x+\sqrt{8}}[/tex]
because
[tex]\sqrt{8}= \sqrt{2*4} = \sqrt{2} * \sqrt{4} = 2\sqrt{2}[/tex]
I haven't specified x, since its just an example. I actually tried making a relationship between x and the square root I introduced, since I could represent it algebraically as
[tex]\sqrt{g}[/tex]
where g is a multiple of two, would give
[tex]\sqrt{2}*\sqrt{\frac{1}{2}g}[/tex].
I'm guessing its more straight forward than this.
Thanks in advance.
[tex]\frac{1+\sqrt{2}}{3-\sqrt{2}}[/tex] as [tex]a+b\sqrt{2}[/tex] where a and b are rational numbers.
I started by
[tex]\frac{1+\sqrt{2}}{3-\sqrt{2}} * \frac{3+\sqrt{2}}{3+\sqrt{2}}[/tex]
But, I obtain
[tex]\frac{5}{7}-\frac{4}{7}\sqrt{2}[/tex]
I believe that, here, a and b are rational, but is there a more tidy version? I tried playing with the square root so that it is a multiple of 2, so that I could 'split' it into two square roots, on of the square root of two so that I could use it to cancel out the square root of two on the bottom, then I could also remove the other square root if it was a rational square root. For example, I tried:
[tex]\frac{1+\sqrt{2}}{3-\sqrt{2}} * \frac{x+\sqrt{8}}{x+\sqrt{8}}[/tex]
because
[tex]\sqrt{8}= \sqrt{2*4} = \sqrt{2} * \sqrt{4} = 2\sqrt{2}[/tex]
I haven't specified x, since its just an example. I actually tried making a relationship between x and the square root I introduced, since I could represent it algebraically as
[tex]\sqrt{g}[/tex]
where g is a multiple of two, would give
[tex]\sqrt{2}*\sqrt{\frac{1}{2}g}[/tex].
I'm guessing its more straight forward than this.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited: