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How to Determine Square Roots of Fractions

A fraction is a number that has a numerator and a denominator. Fractions are usually written as a/b, where a is the numerator and b is the denominator. This fraction means divide the whole into b parts, and take a of them. For example, 3/4 of a pie would mean divide the whole pie into 4 pieces, and take 3 of them. A square root of a number is a number that, when multiplied by itself, produces the original number. One way to write square roots is ^0.5. For example, 16^0.5 = 4, because 4*4 = 16.

Instructions

- 1
  Find the square root of the numerator and simplify, if possible. For example, if you want to find the square root of 20/25, first find square root of 20. Because 20 = 4*5, 20^0.5 = (4^0.5)*(5^0.5). Therefore, 4^0.5 = 2, because 2*2 = 4. However, 5^0.5 cannot be simplified (there is no whole number that is the square root of 5) so write 2*5^0.5.
- 2
  Take the square root of the denominator and simplify, if possible. In the example, 25^0.5 = 5, because 5*5 = 25.
- 3
  Write a new fraction with the result from Step 1 as the numerator and the result from Step 2 as the denominator. In the example, 2*5^0.5/5.

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