Transcript for:
Steps for Solving Radical Equations

- TO SOLVE AN EQUATION CONTAINING ONE RADICAL, WE WILL ISOLATE THE RADICAL ON ONE SIDE OF THE EQUATION. THEN WE'RE GOING TO RAISE BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION TO THE POWER OF THE INDEX. THIS WILL UNDO THE RADICAL. THEN WE'LL SOLVE THE RESULT OF THE EQUATION AND CHECK OUR SOLUTIONS. SO FOR THE FIRST EXAMPLE WE HAVE THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE QUANTITY X + 6 = X + 4. NOTICE HOW THE SQUARE ROOT IS ISOLATED ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE EQUATION. AND BECAUSE WE HAVE A SQUARE ROOT, THE INDEX IS 2. SO WE'RE GOING TO SQUARE BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION. NOTICE ON THE RIGHT WE'RE SQUARING THE ENTIRE SIDE, WE'RE NOT SQUARING EACH TERM. SO WHEN WE SQUARE THE SQUARE ROOT OF X +6, THIS WILL SIMPLIFY TO THE RADICAND OF X + 6. AND THEN FOR THE RIGHT SIDE WE HAVE THE QUANTITY X + 4 x THE QUANTITY X + 4. SO NOW WE NEED TO MULTIPLY THIS OUT, AND WE'LL HAVE FOUR PRODUCTS, ONE, TWO, THREE, AND FOUR. SO WE'LL HAVE X + 6 = X x X, THAT'S X SQUARED. THEN WE HAVE X x 4, THAT'S 4X. BUT NOTICE HOW THE NEXT PRODUCT IS ALSO 4X, SO WE'LL HAVE A TOTAL OF 8X, AND THEN 4 x 4 FOR +16. SO NOW WE HAVE A QUADRATIC EQUATION THAT WE NEED TO SOLVE. SO WE'LL SET THIS EQUAL TO ZERO AND SEE IF IT FACTORS. SO TO SET IT EQUAL TO ZERO, BECAUSE WE HAVE THE SQUARED TERM ON THE RIGHT SIDE, WE'LL SUBTRACT X ON BOTH SIDES, AS WELL AS SUBTRACT SIX ON BOTH SIDES. SO WE'LL HAVE 0 ON THE LEFT SIDE = X SQUARED. THIS WILL BE +7X, AND THIS WILL BE +10. SO THIS IS FACTORABLE. THIS WILL FACTOR TO TWO BINOMIAL FACTORS WITH THE FIRST TERMS WILL BE THE FACTORS OF X SQUARED, WHICH WILL BE X AND X. AND NOW WE WANT THE FACTORS OF +10 THAT ADD TO +7, WHICH WILL BE 5 AND 2. SO WE'LL HAVE X + 5 AND X + 2. SO THIS PRODUCT WILL BE 0 WHEN X + 5 = 0 OR X + 2 = 0. SO WE HAVE X = -5 OR X = -2. NOW, TO CHECK THESE, WE'LL SUB THEM BACK INTO THE ORIGINAL EQUATION TO MAKE SURE THEY ACTUALLY WORK. SO WHEN X IS -5, NOTICE HOW WE'D HAVE THE SQUARE ROOT OF -5 + 6 THAT WOULD BE THE SQUARE ROOT OF 1 = ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE HAVE -5 + 4, WHICH IS EQUAL TO -1. WELL, THE SQUARE ROOT OF 1 IS NOT EQUAL TO -1, AND THEREFORE, X = -5 IS NOT A SOLUTION. THIS IS CALLED AN EXTRANEOUS SOLUTION, ONE THAT WE FOUND ALGEBRAICALLY, BUT DOES NOT WORK. NOW WE'LL CHECK X = -2. WELL, IF X IS -2, WE'D HAVE THE SQUARE ROOT OF -2 + 6 THAT WOULD BE THE SQUARE ROOT OF 4 = ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE'D HAVE -2 + 4, WHICH IS EQUAL TO 2, WHICH IS TRUE. AND THEREFORE, OUR SOLUTION IS X = -2. SO WE ONLY HAVE ONE SOLUTION, EVEN THOUGH ALGEBRAICALLY IT APPEARED THAT WE HAD TWO. THIS IS THE MAIN REASON WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO CHECK OUR SOLUTIONS WHEN SOLVING MEDICAL EQUATIONS. LETS TAKE A LOOK AT OUR SECOND EXAMPLE ON THE NEXT SLIDE. WE WANT TO ISOLATE THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE QUANTITY 4X + 9. SO THE FIRST STEP HERE IS GOING TO BE TO UNDO THIS -1 BY ADDING 1 TO BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION. SO WE'LL HAVE THE SQUARE ROOT OF 4X + 9 = X + 1. AND NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE A SQUARE ROOT WITH AN INDEX OF 2, TO UNDO THIS SQUARE ROOT, WE'LL SQUARE BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION. SO ON THE LEFT SIDE WE JUST HAVE 4X + 9, AND ON THE RIGHT SIDE WE HAVE QUANTITY X + 1 TIMES THE QUANTITY X + 1. SO I'LL MULTIPLY THIS OUT, SO I'LL HAVE 4X + 9 EQUALS-- AGAIN HERE WE'D HAVE FOUR PRODUCTS, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR. SO WE'LL HAVE X x X THAT'S X SQUARED, X x 1 THAT'S 1X, AND 1 x X IS ALSO 1X. SO WE HAVE +2X AND 1 x 1 = 1. SO, AGAIN, WE GOT A QUADRATIC EQUATION. SO WE'LL SET THIS EQUAL TO ZERO AND SOLVE FOR X. SO WE'LL HAVE TO SUBTRACT 4X ON BOTH SIDES, AND ALSO SUBTRACT 9 ON BOTH SIDES. SO WE'LL HAVE 0 = X SQUARED, THIS WILL BE -2X AND THIS WILL BE -8. LET'S GO AHEAD AND SOLVE THIS OVER HERE ON THE LEFT AND SEE IF IT'S GOING TO FACTOR. FIRST TERMS WILL BE X AND X. AND NOW WE WANT THE FACTORS OF -8 THAT ADD TO -2. IT'LL BE A -4 AND +2. SO WE'LL HAVE X - 4 AND X + 2. SO THIS PRODUCT IS EQUAL TO ZERO WHEN X - 4 = 0 OR WHEN X + 2 = 0. SO HERE WE HAVE A SOLUTION OF X = 4 OR X = -2. BUT NOW I NEED TO CHECK THESE TO MAKE SURE THEY ACTUALLY WORK. SO TO CHECK X = 4, WE'LL SUBSTITUTE 4 FOR X. SO WE'LL HAVE THE SQUARE ROOT OF 4 x 4 THAT'S 16 + 9 THAT WOULD BE THE SQUARE ROOT OF 25 - 1 = 4. THIS WILL BE 5 - 1 = 4, WHICH IS TRUE, SO X = 4 IS A SOLUTION. AND NOW WE'LL CHECK X = -2. SO IF X IS -2, WE'D HAVE THE SQUARE ROOT OF 4 x -2 THAT'S -8 + 9, THAT'S A SQUARE ROOT OF 1 - 1 = -2. WELL, THIS WOULD BE 1 - 1 OR 0. 0 DOESN'T = -2, SO X = -2 IS NOT A SOLUTION. IT'S CALLED AN EXTRANEOUS SOLUTION. SO WE DO ONLY HAVE ONE SOLUTION TO THIS EQUATION, IT IS X = 4. I HOPE YOU FOUND THIS HELPFUL.