How do you simplify sqrt(5x - 3)^2?

1 Answer
Jun 28, 2015

(sqrt(5x-3))^2 = 5x-3

Explanation:

Squaring a positive value and taking the (positive) square root are inverse operations.

Note however that
color(white)("XXXX")sqrt((5x-3)^2) is not necessarily equal to (5x-3)

color(white)("XXXX")sqrt((5x-3)^2) = abs(5x-3)

One other possibility that might have been intended is
color(white)("XXXX")sqrt(5x-(3^2))
but this has no interesting simplifications other than
color(white)("XXXX")sqrt(5x-9)