My Math Forum [Solved] Simplification question

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 May 7th, 2011, 04:17 AM #1 Senior Member   Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 106 Thanks: 0 [Solved] Simplification question Hi, what happened to the square root of a? How did it disappear? & suddenly appear on the left side?
 May 7th, 2011, 04:30 AM #2 Senior Member   Joined: Feb 2009 From: Adelaide, Australia Posts: 1,519 Thanks: 3 Re: Simplification question Use the rule $\sqrt{xy}=\sqrt{x}\sqrt{y}$ and factorise the denominator. $\frac{a\sqrt{ab}}{a+\sqrt{ab}}=\frac{a\sqrt{a}\sqr t{b}}{\sqrt{a}\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{a}\sqrt{b}}=\frac{a\c ancel{\sqrt{a}}\sqrt{b}}{\cancel{\sqrt{a}}(\sqrt{a }+\sqrt{b})}=\frac{a\sqrt{b}}{\sqrt{a}+\sqrt{b}}$
 May 7th, 2011, 04:59 AM #3 Senior Member   Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 106 Thanks: 0 Re: Simplification question a square + a square = a, who would have thought. Thank you.
 May 8th, 2011, 02:43 PM #4 Global Moderator   Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 20,927 Thanks: 2205 Do you know that a and b are positive?
 May 8th, 2011, 06:11 PM #5 Global Moderator     Joined: Nov 2009 From: Northwest Arkansas Posts: 2,766 Thanks: 4 Re: [Solved] Simplification question Are we even sure that a and b aren't just letters?????????????????????????????????
 May 8th, 2011, 08:02 PM #6 Senior Member   Joined: Apr 2007 Posts: 2,140 Thanks: 0 ? and ? are always useful.
 May 8th, 2011, 08:13 PM #7 Senior Member     Joined: Jul 2010 From: St. Augustine, FL., U.S.A.'s oldest city Posts: 12,211 Thanks: 521 Math Focus: Calculus/ODEs Re: [Solved] Simplification question I once had a student I was tutoring be totally flabbergasted by the use of letters as variables. She said numbers she understood, but the letters threw her off. So I began putting smiley faces and hearts in the equations (to demonstrate that any symbols can be used to represent the unknowns), and it was like a light went on in her head!
 May 8th, 2011, 08:26 PM #8 Senior Member   Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 618 Thanks: 0 Re: [Solved] Simplification question I, too, would be intimidated having Ed Witten as a tutor. -Ormkärr-
 May 8th, 2011, 08:47 PM #9 Senior Member     Joined: Jul 2010 From: St. Augustine, FL., U.S.A.'s oldest city Posts: 12,211 Thanks: 521 Math Focus: Calculus/ODEs Re: [Solved] Simplification question The only things I have in common with Dr. Witten are glasses and a receding hairline. Several centuries ago you would probably have to have been the child of a king to get tutored by someone of his talents. :P
 May 8th, 2011, 09:32 PM #10 Senior Member   Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 618 Thanks: 0 Re: [Solved] Simplification question I'd like to think Dr. Witten still manages to tutor a student or two... by looking unblinkingly into her eyes, until she understands. -Ormkärr-

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