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Surds
Contents
 What is a Surd ?
 Simplifying a Surd
 Adding and Substracting Surds
 Multipliying and Dividing Surds
 Rationalising a Surd
 Conjugate Pairs

3
Starter Questions

 Use a calculator to find the values of :

=6 = 12

=3 =2
What is a Surd ?

 These roots have exact values and are

called rational
=6 = 12
 These roots do NOT have exact values
and are called irrational OR Surds
Simplifying Surds
 Some square roots can be simplified
by using this rule -
To simplify 12 we must split 12 into
12 factors with at least one being a square
number.

= 4 x 3 Now simplify the square root.

= 2 3
Have a go -
 You need to look for square numbers

 45  32  72
= 9 x 5 = 16 x 2 = 4 x 18

= 35 = 42 = 2 x 9 x 2

= 2 x 3 x 2

= 62
Simplifying Surds
 Simplify the following square roots :

 (1)  20 (2)  27 (3)  48

= 25 = 33 = 43

 (4)  75 (5)  4500 (6)  3200

= 53 = 305 = 402
 Note :
Adding & Subtracting Surds
√2 + √3 does not
equal √5

 To add or subtract surds such as 2,

treat as a single object.
 Eg.
Adding & Subtracting Surds

HOW TO SOLVE ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION

DIFFERENT ROOTS
Simplify your answers, where possible:
Multiplying Surds

• Eg

• List the first 10 square numbers

• 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100
Multiplying and Simplifying Surds
Multiplying and Simplifying Surds
Second Rule

Examples
Rationalising Surds
 Remember fractions –

1 Numerator
2 Denominator
 Fractions can contain surds in the
numerator, denominator or both:
Rationalising Surds
 Removing the surd form numerator or
denominator

 Remember the rules

 This will help us to rationalise a surd

fraction
Rationalising Surds
 Multiply top and bottom by the square
root you are trying to remove:

Multiply top and bottom by √5

Remember
5 x 5 =  25 = 5 )
Rationalising Surds
 Remember multiply top and bottom by
root you are trying to remove
Rationalising Surds
 Rationalise the denominator
Rationalise the Denominator
Conjugate Pairs - Starter Questions

 Multiply out :

=3

= 14
Conjugate Pairs.
 This is a conjugate pair. (5 + 2)(5 - 2)
 The brackets are identical apart from the
sign in each bracket .
 Multiplying out the brackets we get :
5 x 5 - 2 5 + 2 5 - 4 =5-4 =1
 When the brackets are multiplied out the
surds ALWAYS cancel out leaving a
rational expression
Conjugate Pairs - Third Rule

 Eg.

=7–3=4

= 11 – 5 = 6
Rationalising Surds
 Rationalise the denominator in the
expressions below by multiplying top and
bottom by the appropriate conjugate:
Rationalising Surds
 Another one ...
Rationalising the Denominator
 Rationalise the denominator in the
expressions below :