Question

How is the process of adding and subtracting radicals similar to that of simplifying expressions with variables?

Answer 1

@dpaInc please help :(

Answer 2

like terms

Answer 3

The two main operations you can perform when adding and subtracting radicals are:
simplifying radicals for example\[\sqrt{27}=\sqrt{3\times9}=\sqrt{3}\times\sqrt{9} = 3\sqrt{3}\]and, once you have done this, gathering similar terms, for example \[\sqrt{2}+3\sqrt{2}=(1+3)\sqrt{2}=4\sqrt{2}\]Simplification is similar to the process in algebra of removing common factors from an expression, and gathering similar terms is very similar to gathering or combining terms in algebra.

Answer 4

in radicals sometimes you can create like terms

Answer 5

simplifying variable expressions is basically combining like terms:
3x +2y - 7x = -4x + 2y
that's as simplified you can get....

it's the same with radicals:
\(\large 3\sqrt2 + 2\sqrt7 - 7\sqrt2 = -4\sqrt2 + 2\sqrt7 \)
and the same as variable expressions, that's as simple as you can get this...