Question

How do you simplify `5sqrt80-12sqrt5`?

Answer 1

`8sqrt(5)`

Explanation:

`sqrt(80) = sqrt(4*4*5)` Notice that there are two 4s in there, so, since it is a square root we can write that same thing as `4sqrt(5)` so the equation now becomes:
`5*(4sqrt(5))-12sqrt(5)`
`5*4=20` so
`20sqrt(5)-12sqrt(5)` From here we can treat `sqrt(5)` as `x` like: `20x-12x=8x` so,
`20sqrt(5)-12sqrt(5)=8sqrt(5)`