Surds · Year 10

In Year 10 you learn: simplifying surds.

A surd is a square root that does not come out as a whole number, like √2 or √12. Leaving answers as surds keeps them exact instead of rounding. We simplify surds by taking out square factors, and rationalise denominators so that no root is left on the bottom of a fraction.

Key facts

• Only like surds can be added: 3√5 + 2√5 = 5√5, but √2 + √3 stays as it is. √a + √b ≠ √(a + b).

Other years

• Surds · Year 11
• Surds · Year 12