Rationalise the denominator of 14 / 2 + root3

The denominator in this equation is irrational. This can be seen by the fact that we have a surd (root 3) present, which cannot be expressed as a fraction as is therefore not rational.
In order to rationalise this denominator, we must multiply the fraction by another fraction which will eliminate the presence of the root 3. This must have the denominator of 2 - root 3, as when multiplied, the root 3 is squared and becomes 3. However, in order for this to be possible, the fraction must also have a numerator of 2-root3, so that we are effectively multiplying the fraction by 1. When multiplying, this leaves us with an answer of 28-14 root3, which can be cancelled to 2(14-7root3).

ET

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Work out the increase in price from £1.50 to £2.00 as a percentage.


How do you work out the nth term for a linear equation?


How do you solve inequalities when you have two inequality symbols in the expression, e.g. 4x - 6 < 14 < 3x + 2


Find the inverse of f(x) = 7x+4