Question

How do I solve this radical and then check all the solutions?

Answer 1

Answer:

This problem of equations involving surds can be solved by :

Firstly,square both sides of the equation to do away with the surd

(√x+3)²=(x-3)²

Next,we do away with the surd or let me put it as sign of square root and FOIL out the RHS

x+3=x²-6x+9

Rearranging leads to:

x²-6x-x+9-3=0

x²-7x+6=0 which factorises to:

(x-6)(x-1)=0

Finding the zeros leads to

x=6 or 1

We now conduct a test to see which value(s) of x satisfy the equation

√6+3=6-3

√9=3

3=3, so x=6 is true

Now for 1,

√1+3=1-3

√4 is not equal to -2

Therefore we conclude that x=6