Question

How do you simplify 5/¡Ì12? I know you have to multiply the denominator,¡Ì12, by a radical to make a perfect square..

I think you're supposed to multiply it by 12? But there seems to be other numbers multiplied by 12 that can make a perfect square too, but 12's the first one I thought of. So then I got
¡Ì144, which equals 12. Is this right? What do I do next?

Answer 1

I can not read your symbol but assume it is a radical or sqrt sign

5 / sqrt 12

multiply top and bottom by sqrt 12

5 sqrt 12 / 12

= (5/12) sqrt (3*4)
= (10/12) sqrt 3
= (5/6) sqrt 3

Answer 2

how did you get (10/12) sqrt 3?

Answer 3

From (5/12) sqrt (3*4) , 2 is sqrt of 4. Multiplying that by 5/12 gives you 10/12 times the remaining sqrt 3.

I hope that helps a little more. Thanks for asking.