6-1 Roots and Radical Expressions

Objective

To find nth roots

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In Chapter 5, you used root to represent a solution of an equation. For example, 2 is a root of the equation x 3 = 8 . x cubed , equals 8 .  For such a simple power equation, you can simply refer to 2 as a cube root of 8.

Essential Understanding Corresponding to every power, there is a root. For example, just as there are squares (second powers), there are square roots. Just as there are cubes (third powers), there are cube roots, and so on.

This pattern suggests a definition of an nth root.

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