How To: Simplify square roots in math

In this video the instructor shows how to simplify radicals. A radical is nothing but another name for a square root. To find the square root of a simple number the first thing that you need to do is factor it. If you need to compute the square root of a number, you first need to find a number which multiplied by itself gives the original number under the root. For example, to find the square root of 9, you need to find a number which multiplied by itself gives 9. Here the answer is 3. When 3 is multiplied by itself it gives 9. This means that 3 is the square root of 9. When 9 is factored it is three times three or three squared. So by cancelling the square root against the square of the number you can simplify the radical. This video shows how to simplify radicals.