GRE Math : How to subtract square roots
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 :How To Subtract Square Roots
Quantity A:
Quantity B:
Which of the following is true?
The relationship cannot be determined from the information provided.
The two quantities are equal.
Quantity A is larger.
Quantity B is larger.
Quantity A is larger.
Begin by breaking down each of the roots in question. Often, for the GRE, your answer arises out of doing such basic "simplification moves".
Quantity A
This is the same as:
Quantity B
This is the same as:
Now, since we know that
Example Question #21 :Square Roots And Operations
Solve for
Note,
Begin by subtracting
This simplifies to:
Now, while you could square both sides, you also know that
Example Question #3 :How To Subtract Square Roots
Quantity A:
Quantity B:
Which of the following is true?
Quantity B is larger.
The relationship cannot be determined from the information provided.
The two quantities are equal.
Quantity A is larger.
Quantity B is larger.
As always for comparison questions, work on getting your quantities explicit. In order to do this in this case, you must factor the roots.
Quantity A
This can be factored into:
Quantity B
This can be factored into:
This makes the comparison very easy! Since
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