Simplifying Radical Expressions
Rational exponents can be used to simplify some radical expressions. The
procedure is as follows.
SIMPLIFYING RADICAL EXPRESSIONS
a. Convert radical expressions to exponential expressions.
b. Use arithmetic and the laws of exponents to simplify.
c. Convert back to radical notation when appropriate.
Important: This procedure works only when all expressions under
radicals are nonnegative since rational exponents are not defined
otherwise. With this assumption, no absolute-value signs will be needed.