What is the simplest radical form of sqrt160?

2 Answers
Aug 5, 2016

4sqrt10

Explanation:

Write 160 as the product of its prime factors, then we know what we are dealing with.

sqrt160 = sqrt(2xx2xx2xx2xx2xx2xx5) = sqrt(2^5 xx 5)

=sqrt(2^5 xx 5) = sqrt(2^4 xx 2 xx 5)

=4sqrt10

Aug 5, 2016

Radicals can be split by multiplication. It helps to be able to find perfect squares underneath the radicals during the factorization, and 16 is a convenient perfect square.

If it helps, try going in steps of factoring out 2.

sqrt(160)

sqrt(2*80)

sqrt(2*2*40)

sqrt(2*2*2*20)

sqrt(2*2*2*2*10)

= sqrt(16*10)

= sqrt(16)*sqrt(10)

Since sqrt(16) = 4, we end up with color(blue)(4sqrt10).