2. What is a radical term? It is a term which contains a radical.

3. But what is a radical? A radical is another name for a square root.

4. Okay—so a radical term...... is an term that contains a radical, or square root. Look! There goes one now!

5. Consider these two expressions:

6. What makes them different?What do they have in common?

7. You may have noticed that the two expressions are really the same, if...

8. If what? Under what condition would the two expressions be identical?

9. The two expressions are identical when

10. That means since you already know how to simplify the first expression...

11. ... then you also know how to simplify the radical expression.

12. The rules that apply to combining like terms

13. also apply to combining radical terms.

15. You can only combine radical terms when the radicands are identical. When what are identical? What is a radicand?

16. The radicand is the number underneath the square root sign.

17. When two (or more) terms have exactly the same radicand,

18. we call them like radical terms, and we can combine them.

19. But when the radicands are not identical...

20. ... the terms cannot be combined.

21. Practice combining radical terms: