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jmc

algebra senior

Problem

Rationalize the denominator: . The simplified result can be written in the form , where , , and , are positive integers. What is ?
Solution
We begin by grouping terms in the denominator so that it resembles a two-term expression: . This suggests that our next step is to multiply both the numerator and the denominator of our original expression by so that we have a difference of squares. Doing this, we have: We can then rationalize the denominator of this expression by multiplying both the numerator and denominator by to get: Thus, , , and , so we have .
Final answer
12