When finding factors of the radicand (the number under the radical), one of the factors should be:

Question

When finding factors of the radicand (the number under the radical), one of the factors should be:

A.the largest perfect square

B.the smallest perfect square

C.the least common denominator

D.the greatest common factor

Answer 1

When finding factors of the radicand (the number under the radical), one of the factors should be:

A. the largest perfect square

This is because when simplifying square roots, finding the largest perfect square factor helps to simplify the expression most effectively. For example, if the radicand is 36, the largest perfect square factor is 36 itself, and the square root of 36 is 6. If the radicand were 48, the largest perfect square factor is 16, which allows you to simplify the square root of 48 to 4√3.