What are surds?

• If?n?is a positive integer and is not a square number, then?√n?(or any multiple of?√n?) is a?surd

• Surds are examples of?irrational numbers

What do I need to know about manipulating surds?

• There are two basic rules you need to know in order to manipulate and simplify surds:

• When simplifying, look for square factors

• You can collect like terms with surds like you do with letters in algebra:

• But be careful not to confuse this with the multiplication and division rules... cannot add or subtract 'under the surd':

Where can surds be useful?

• Using surds lets you leave answers in exact form
• 
• Understanding how to simplify surds can help reduce expressions and collect like terms