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algebra intermediate

Problem

The ratio of the areas of two squares is . After rationalizing the denominator, the ratio of their side lengths can be expressed in the simplified form where , , and are integers. What is the value of the sum ?
Solution
We start off by simplifying the ratio to . The area of a square equals the side length squared, so we can get the ratio of sidelengths by taking the square root of the ratio of areas: So, our answer is . If you started off by taking the square root of directly without simplifying it first, you still get the same answer.
Final answer
22