Indices and Surds

Indices :-
Indices are used to describe the general term for 2 in say x^2. There are a few laws to know when manipulating expressions involving indices.
























Surds :-
Surds are basically an expression involving a root, squared or cubed etc...
There are some basic rules when dealing with surds.


Also notice the special case




Difference of Two Squares


This is called the difference of two squares .

Rationalising Surds:
When you have a fraction where both the nominator and denominator are surds, rationalising the surd is the process of getting rid of the surd on the denominator. To rationalise a surd you multiply top and bottom by fraction that equals one. Take the example shown below
1/√2
To rationalise this multiply by effectively 1
1/√2 * √2 /√2
Can you see why √2 /√2 was chosen? This is because √2 * √2 = 2 so the denominator becomes surd free.

For a more complex term







Indices are used to describe the general term for 2 in say x^2. There are a few laws to know when manipulating expressions involving indices.
























Surds :-
Surds are basically an expression involving a root, squared or cubed etc...
There are some basic rules when dealing with surds.


Also notice the special case




Difference of Two Squares


This is called the difference of two squares .

Rationalising Surds:
When you have a fraction where both the nominator and denominator are surds, rationalising the surd is the process of getting rid of the surd on the denominator. To rationalise a surd you multiply top and bottom by fraction that equals one. Take the example shown below
1/√2
To rationalise this multiply by effectively 1
1/√2 * √2 /√2
Can you see why √2 /√2 was chosen? This is because √2 * √2 = 2 so the denominator becomes surd free.

For a more complex term