How to find a rational number from an exponent

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SAT Math › How to find a rational number from an exponent

Questions 1 - 6
1

Explanation

2

Solve for .

Explanation

3

Rationalize the denominator:

Explanation

The conjugate of is .

Now multiply both the numerator and the denominator by

and you get:

Hence we get

4

Solve for :

Explanation

5

If,

What does

Explanation

If ,

then .

6

Explanation

From the equation in the problem statement

Now squaring both sides we get

this is a quadratic equation which equals

and the factors of this equation are

This gives us .

However, if we plug these solutions back into the original equation, does not create an equality. Therefore, is an extraneous solution.

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