Precalculus (6th Edition) Blitzer

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-13446-914-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-13446-914-0

Chapter P - Section P.3 - Radicals and Rational Exponents - Exercise Set - Page 47: 123

Answer

See explanations.

Work Step by Step

Step 1. To rationalize a denominator, we need to multiply both the numerator and the denominator with the conjugate of the denominator which is an expression containing radicals. Step 2. In the case of $\frac{1}{\sqrt 5}$, multiply $\frac{\sqrt 5}{\sqrt 5}$ to get $\frac{1}{\sqrt 5}=\frac{1}{\sqrt 5}\times\frac{\sqrt 5}{\sqrt 5}=\frac{\sqrt 5}{5}$ Step 3. In the case of $\frac{1}{5+\sqrt 5}$, multiply $\frac{5-\sqrt 5}{5-\sqrt 5}$ to get $\frac{1}{5+\sqrt 5}=\frac{1}{5+\sqrt 5}\times\frac{5-\sqrt 5}{5-\sqrt 5}=\frac{5-\sqrt 5}{25-5}=\frac{5-\sqrt 5}{20}$
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