Question

What if the last term has a square root that is a big, long decimal? you wouldn't use the decimal, would you?

Answer 1

you would round it off to the hundreds place or put it as a fraction.. whatever your teacher wants you to do....but you do need the numbers after the decimal point

Answer 2

You would usually simplify the square root as much as possible, say... 4 square root of 80. Nothing times it's self is 80, but it does have factors you can work with. 8 and 10 are easy... 8 has a factor of 4 and 2. 4 can be simplified down into 2 and 2. One of those goes away, and one goes to the outside. The ten can factor into 5 and 2. You have two two's and a five inside the square root. Another goes away and another goes to the outside. you are left with 2, 4, and 2 on the outside. You multiply them and have 16 square root of 5, because the five is still inside the square root...That was extremely long winded, but I hope it helps...